The Neuropsychological Effects of Type 1 Diabetes and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the interaction of diabetes and depressive symptoms and neuropsychological functioning in a sample of adolescents. It also addressed whether disease-related variables such as age of onset of diabetes and presence of severe hypoglycemic episodes were predictive of severity of depressive symptoms. The neuropsychological domains of memory, attention, and overall cognitive abilities were assessed using a cross-battery approach with subtests from the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning - Second Edition (WRAML2), the Stroop Test, and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test - Second Edition (KBIT-2), respectively.The total sample consisted of 62 youth between the ages of 13 and 17 years: 31 adolescents diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and 31 adolescents without diabetes. Adolescents were recruited from an outpatient pediatric diabetes clinic and an outpatient general medicine pediatric clinic located in Tuscon, AZ . Significant findings included that the interaction effect of diabetes and depressive symptoms scores was statistically significant for verbal memory, verbal recognition, verbal memory delayed, verbal list learning, and attention/concentration. No significant differences were found for verbal working memory, visual memory, visual recognition, or attention/inhibition. Regression analyses showed that none of the diabetes-related variables included in the study variables (age of diabetes onset, duration of diabetes, presence of severe hypoglycemic episodes, type of insulin therapy) were predictive of depressive symptoms scores that adolescents reported.