Neurocognitive Functioning in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Contributions of Trauma Exposure and Symptoms.

Lower performance on measures of neurocognitive ability has been noted in adolescents with either Type I Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) as well as among those with trauma histories. Using baseline data of a randomized control trial, this cross-sectional study examined the relative contribution of trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) on neurocognitive outcomes in adolescents with T1DM. One hundred and five youth with T1DM (mean age = 13.55 years old; 45.6% female; 28.4% Latinx) completed an abbreviated measure of intellectual function and digital tasks to evaluate their skills in five neurocognitive domains. Results found significant differences in performance on tasks measuring processing speed, attention, memory, and visual-spatial reasoning, based on parent-reported traumatic event exposure. Additionally, above and beyond sociodemographics, the number of parent-reported Intrusion symptoms predicted general cognitive ability and perceptual reasoning, while the number of parent-reported Avoidance symptoms predicted abstract verbal reasoning. Further, as self-reported Arousal symptoms (both severity and number) increased, participant scores on measures of general cognitive ability, vocabulary, abstract verbal reasoning, perceptual reasoning, and attention decreased. These findings suggest a high prevalence of trauma exposure in individuals with T1DM and demonstrate the deleterious influences of ongoing or untreated PTSS on critical skills needed to manage diabetes. Future research is needed to determine if interventions to reduce traumatic stress symptoms would lead to improvements in neurocognitive outcomes.