Canada Journal – News of the World Articles and videos to bring you the biggest Canadian news stories from across the country every day
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of the death in the United States. A new study reveals another disturbing detail. Researchers found that type 1 diabetes in children can cause brain loss, affecting memory and attention cognition.
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a harmful complication of Type 1 Diabetes that can gradually alter brain matter in newly diagnosed children. “Children and adolescents diagnosed with type 1 diabetes with diabetic ketoacidosis have evidence of brain gray matter shrinkage and white matter swelling,” the study’s lead author Dr. Fergus Cameron, head of diabetes services at Royal Children’s Hospital in Victoria, Australia, told HealthDay.
According to reports, each year nearly 30,000 U.S. adults and children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and the disease has increased dramatically in recent years.
The study included 36 children and teens with diabetes ketoacidosis and 59 without it. Subjects were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and between 6 and 18 years old.
After planned MRIs at regular intervals, researchers found decreased gray matter volume in the children with diabetic ketoacidosis as well as swelling in the white matter.
But children who’d experienced these brain changes had more delayed memory recall and poorer sustained and divided attention scores for at least six months after the diabetic ketoacidosis, the study found.
“Changes in memory and attention are subtle, and may or may not be noticed by a parent or teacher on a daily basis,” added Cameron. “However, any decrement in attention or memory in children is a concern as children are acquiring new knowledge and learning new skills all the time.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
