Evaluación neuropsicológica de la diabetes mellitus tipo 1 en la infancia

Abstract

Introduction Diabetes mellitus can affect normal cognitive functioning, particularly when the illness shows evidence of poor metabolic control. Diabetic children represent the population at greatest risk of suffering from learning problems as a consequence of the possible metabolic alterations that may display. Aims To study the neuropsychological and behavioral performance of a group of children with diabetes mellitus, taking into account the age at which the illness was diagnosed. Material and methods The sample was comprised of an experimental group of 42 diabetic children and a control group of 43 healthy children. Diabetic children was divided into two subgroups: earlyonset and late-onset diabetics children with diabetes, according to the age of the diagnosis of the illness, before or after the age of 5 years. A tests battery were applied, consisting of WISC-R, QNST, Figure of Rey, TALE and EPQ-J. Results Children with diabetes demonstrated lower results in the TALE writing test and in WISC-R Cubes subtest. The early-onset group showed a lower performance than the late-onset group in the TALE writing test and in the WISC-R Cubes subtest. Conclusions Cognitive performance, neuropsychological structure and personality factors examined in the diabetic group show similarities to the non-diabetic children, without the age of diagnosis having significant effects on in performance.