Tightly controlled blood glucose does not impair cognitive function
Concerns that tightly controlling blood glucose could impair cognitive function because of the increased risk of hypoglycaemia are unfounded, according to new data.
Long-term follow-up of more than 1,000 patients with type 1 diabetes
who took part in the diabetes control and complications trial (DCCT)
showed no changes over time in any of eight cognitive domains that had
been monitored.
The DCCT, which ended in 1993, followed patients with type 1 diabetes
for a decade and demonstrated the benefits of tight glucose control for
preventing both micro- and macrovascular complications.
But patients who managed to achieve near-normal blood glucose levels
had a threefold risk of severe hypoglycaemia, leading to fears that this
could impair cognitive function as patients aged.
The new analysis looked at cognitive function in the 12 years since the
end of DCCT. The overall findings should be reassuring to patients who
are careful about controlling their blood glucose levels, said Alan Jacobson
senior vice-president of the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston, Massachusetts.
“While acute episodes of hypoglycaemia can impair thinking and
can even be life-threatening, patients with type 1 diabetes do not have
to worry
that such episodes will impair their long-term abilities to perceive,
reason and remember,” he said.
The data were presented at the American
Diabetes Association annual scientific sessions, held in Washington earlier this month. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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