Linda Dimeglio
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Medicine & Clinical Research
Children who develop type 1 diabetes before puberty may face problems with thinking, learning and memory that start soon after diagnosis and can worsen over time. A young child's brain is still developing, so it may be especially sensitive to blood sugar that swings too high or too low.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Neuroscience
Psychology
- Topics
type 1 diabetes
pediatric diabetes
neurocognitive outcomes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Determine whether more time with blood glucose in the target range protects prepubertal children with type 1 diabetes from neurocognitive difficulties, using continuous glucose monitoring and repeated neuropsychological testing over 18 months.
- Test whether diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a dangerous acid build-up at diagnosis, and a younger age at diabetes onset predict poorer cognitive outcomes and altered brain development, measured with multimodal brain MRI.
- Evaluate whether glucose swings and other diabetes-related factors predict cognitive trajectories, comparing children aged 4–9 with type 1 diabetes against similar children without diabetes.
- Identify family, psychosocial, diet, sleep and physical-activity factors that increase vulnerability or build resilience to diabetes-related cognitive problems, using detailed longitudinal assessments.
More about the research
It may also be harmed by diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a dangerous build-up of acids in the blood. Earlier studies hinted at these risks, but they were small, often looked at children only once, and measured few of the factors that could matter. Why diabetes affects the developing brain therefore remains unclear.
Why it matters
Young children with type 1 diabetes may develop lasting difficulties with thinking and learning. By identifying modifiable risk and protective factors, such as time spent in the target glucose range or DKA at diagnosis, this study could guide future interventions, diabetes technologies and clinical care. The goal is to reduce neurocognitive complications and improve quality of life for these children and their families.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Erika S. Helgeson
University of Minnesota, MN·Mathematics & Statistics
Help design a long-term cohort study that follows prepubertal children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and children without diabetes to describe how the disease affects neurocognition.
Jenise Wong
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Partner with Latinx teens with type 1 diabetes, their families and clinicians through focus groups and semi-structured interviews to adapt a virtual peer group model that promotes starting and continuing diabetes device use.
Francisco Pasquel
Emory University, GA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test in a multicenter randomized trial whether automated insulin delivery with a disposable patch pump and remote real-time continuous glucose monitoring increases time in target glucose range (70–180 mg/dL) compared with daily insulin injections plus CGM in hospitalized adults.
The school
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis: 25 labs on PI Pages, $89M a year on research, 120 research doctorates a year.
More about Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
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