Mental processing slightly reduced in diabetic kids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with type 1 diabetes appear to have somewhat lower than normal scores across most domains of intellectual processing, or "cognition," according to findings in the Diabetes Care. Because the deficits are so small, the researchers note, they are unlikely to have any real relevance for the patient.

"Growing consensus indicates that children with type 1 diabetes, compared with (healthy children), are at risk of developing cognitive difficulties," Dr. Patricia A. Gaudieri, of the University of Rochester, New York, and colleagues write. "However, research results are inconsistent regarding the magnitude and pattern of cognitive difficulties."

The researchers examined the issue by reviewing data from 15 studies involving a total of 1,029 diabetic children and 751 children without diabetes.

Diabetic children exhibited slightly lower overall cognitive ability. Learning and memory were unaffected in the diabetic patients, but slightly lower scores were observed in intelligence, speed of information processing, academic achievement, and other parameters.

Compared with children with late-onset diabetes, those with early-onset diabetes performed more poorly in overall cognition and had lower scores in several of the individual domains.

Still, the authors emphasize that as a group, the cognitive ability of diabetic children is not markedly from that of healthy children and the slight deficits seen are unlikely to have any major impact on their lives.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, September 2008.