OBJECTIVE-Recovery times of cognitive functions were examined after exposure to hypoglycemia in people with diabetes with and without impaired hypoglycemia awareness.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-A total of 36 subjects with type 1 diabetes were studied (20 with normal hypoglycemia awareness [NHA] and 16 with impaired hypoglycemia awareness [IHA]). A hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp was used to lower blood glucose to 2.5 mmol/l (45 mg/dl) (hypoglycemia) for 1 h or to maintain blood glucose at 4.5 mmol/l (81 mg/dl) (euglycemia) on separate occasions. Cognitive tests were applied during each experimental condition and were repeated at 10-to 15-min intervals for 90 min after euglycemia had been restored.RESULTS-In the NHA group, performance was impaired on all cognitive tasks during hypoglycemia and remained impaired for up to 75 min on the choice reaction time (CRT) task (P ϭ 0.03, 2 ϭ 0.237). In the IHA group, performance did not deteriorate significantly during hypoglycemia. When all subjects were analyzed within the same general linear model, performance was impaired during hypoglycemia on all tasks. Significant impairment during recovery persisted for up to 40 min on the CRT task (P ϭ 0.04, 2 ϭ 0.125) with a significant glycemia-awareness interaction for CRT after one hour of hypoglycemia (P ϭ 0.045, 2 ϭ 0.124). Performance on the trail-making B task was impaired for up to 10 min after euglycemia was restored (P ϭ 0.024, 2 ϭ 0.158). T he recovery of cognitive function following hypoglycemia has not received rigorous evaluation. Previous studies examined nondiabetic volunteers (1-3) in small numbers (3), did not include a euglycemia control arm (1,4), measured neurophysiological parameters rather than cognitive function (1,2,5,6), or restricted cognitive testing to one or two time points (3-5). The interval between restoration of euglycemia and cognitive testing was usually ill defined (2,4 -6). Controversy exists as to whether impaired awareness of hypoglycemia is associated with relative preservation (7-13) or exacerbation of the cognitive impairment induced by hypoglycemia (14 -16). The present study examined the time taken for recovery of cognitive function in adults with type 1 diabetes and assessed the effect of their state of awareness on the response to, and recovery from, hypoglycemia.
CONCLUSIONS-Following
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThe local medical research ethics committee approved the protocol, and subjects gave informed consent for participation.Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and age 18 -45 years. Exclusion criteria included pregnancy or any significant concurrent medical condition, history of head injury, epilepsy, or history of hypoglycemia-induced seizure.A total of 36 subjects with type 1 diabetes were recruited, 20 with normal hypoglycemia awareness (NHA) and 16 with impaired hypoglycemia awareness (IHA) confirmed by documenting their hypoglycemia history and using a validated hypoglycemia awareness scale (17). Microvascular complications were defined as any clinical diag...