The Effects of Type 1 Diabetes on Cognitive Performance

To investigate the exact nature and magnitude of cognitive impairments in patients with type 1 diabetes and the possible association with other disease variables, such as recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia and metabolic control. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: MedLine and PsycLit search engines were used to identify studies on cognitive performance in patients with type 1 diabetes. Effect sizes (Cohen's d), which are the standardized differences between the experimental and the control group, were calculated. In the meta-analysis, a combined d value was calculated, expressing the magnitude of associations across studies.

A total of 33 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Compared with nondiabetic control subjects, the type 1 diabetic group demonstrated a significantly lowered performance on the following cognitive domains: intelligence (d = -0.7), speed of information processing (d = -0.3), psychomotor efficiency (d = -0.6), visual (d = -0.4) and sustained attention (d = -0.3), cognitive flexibility (d = -0.5), and visual perception (d = -0.4). Lowered cognitive performance in diabetic patients appeared to be associated with the presence of microvascular complications but not with the occurrence of severe hypoglycemic episodes or with poor metabolic control.