Neuropsychological study of cognitive functions in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) is a complex disease, in the model of responsible attitude to the treatment of which it is important to take into account cognitive characteristics that determine the ability to take responsibility for treatment in order to achieve glycemic control. Cognitive impairments can affect the quality of patients' self-control: they can be the reason for skipping injections, incorrect calculation of bread units, the required dose of insulin etc. The purpose of this research was to establish the features of the cognitive status of adolescents with DM1 in comparison with healthy adolescents from the point of view of the neuropsychological approach being developed in Russian psychology. Methods used: a single-center cross-sectional study of 38 patients with DM1 (13 boys/25 girls) and 30 conditionally healthy children (20 boys/10 girls) aged 12 to 17 y/o was conducted. The study was conducted on the bases of the Endocrinology Department No. 1 of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital with the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia (Moscow, Russia) and General Education School No. 1321 “Kovcheg” (Moscow, Russia) in May-Nov. 2023. The method of medical documentation analysis coupled with the psychodiagnostics method (battery of neuropsychological tests by A.R. Luria with a quantitative assessment of the results according to J.M. Glozman (2012)) were used. The duration of the examination was 60 to 75 minutes. Results: in the group of adolescents with DM1 compared with adolescents in the control group there were deficits in the domains of thinking (p≤0.05), memory (p≤0.01), neurodynamic indicators of mental activity (p=0.001), regulation and control (p=0.026), manual praxis (p=0.030) and spatial representations (p=0.001). Conclusion: the study results showed the need for timely correctional psychological classes for children with DM1 aimed at improving their cognitive functions. In the future, such classes could lead to an improvement in the quality of implementing a responsible attitude to health, improving glycemic control and DM1 compensation in general as well as reducing the number of complications in future life.