POOR COGNITIVE TASK-PERFORMANCE OF INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETIC CHILDREN (6-12 YEARS) IN INDIA

Cognitive function was assessed in 22 diabetic and 39 healthy children , all in the age group of 6-12 years. Wechsler's coding, digit span te st and Raven's colored progressive matrices were included in the batte ry of tests. The diabetic children underscored on all these tasks comp ared to the healthy children. The raw scores (mean +/- S.D.), of the d iabetic and healthy children were: Wechsler's coding: 17.4 +/- 6.48, 3 7.4 +/- 9.33; digit span: 22.0 +/- 8.8, 44.1 +/- 7.67 and on Raven's A + A(B) + B: 16.2 +/- 3.5. 24.1 +/- 6.26; P < 0.001 in each instance, respectively. Duration of diabetes did not correlate with any of the t est scores. No significant differences were noted between the early on set (IDDM starting before the age of 5 years) and late onset (IDDM sta rting after 5 years) diabetic children in their performance. We attrib ute the very low scores in our diabetic children to the psycho-social factors in addition to the metabolic control. Conclusions: (1) specifi c cognitive dysfunction is present in children with IDDM compared to t he healthy children; (2) duration of diabetes did not correlate with c ognitive function scores; (3) IDDM manifesting after the age of 5 year s also had hitherto unknown detrimental effects on the cognitive proce ss.