Cognitive function during hypoglycaemia in type I diabetes mellitus.
- 8 March 1986
- Vol. 292 (6521), 647-650
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.292.6521.647
Abstract
Neuropsychological testing was carried out in 16 insulin dependent (type I) diabetic men during four periods when mean blood glucose concentrations were (A) 6.3 (SEM 0.13) mmol/l (113.5 (SEM 2.3) mg/100 ml), (B) 2.9 (0.05) mmol/l (52.3 (0.9) mg/100 ml), and (C) 1.8 (0.03) mmol/l (32.4 (0.05) mg/100 ml), all measured during intravenous insulin infusion, and (D) 6.1 (0.13) mmol/l (109.9 (2.3) mg/100 ml), measured after intravenous glucose. The total neuropsychological test score decreased between periods A and B, A and C, and B and C, whereas improvement occurred between periods C and D (all p less than 0.02). These results were not due to changes in individual subjects alone but were consistent for the whole group. During hypoglycaemia there were changes in the patients' estimates of elapsed time, which were underestimated at period C as compared with the estimates at periods A, B, and D (all p less than 0.05). None of the 16 patients noticed symptoms of hypoglycaemia at period A or B, 12 reported symptoms at C, and one at D. Patients with type I diabetes may show a deterioration in neuropsychological skills during periods of asymptomatic subnormal or hypoglycaemic blood glucose concentrations.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Variable Deterioration in Cortical Function During Insulin-induced HypoglycemiaDiabetes, 1985
- Hypoglycaemic reactions in 172 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patientsDiabetologia, 1983
- Special Comment: Meticulous Control of Diabetes: Benefits, Risks, and PrecautionsDiabetes, 1982
- Glucose Counterregulation in ManDiabetes, 1981
- Hormonal mechanisms in acute glucose counterregulation: The relative roles of glucagon, epinephrine, norepinephrine, growth hormone, and cortisolMetabolism, 1980
- Rapid changes in chromatographically determined haemoglobin A1c induced by short-term changes in glucose concentrationDiabetologia, 1980
- Stimulation of Counterregulatory Hormonal Responses in Diabetic Man by a Fall in Glucose ConcentrationDiabetes, 1980
- Control of Blood Glucose and Diabetic Vascular DiseaseNew England Journal of Medicine, 1977
- Arousal, activation, and effort in the control of attention.Psychological Review, 1975
- The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh inventoryNeuropsychologia, 1971