Association between recent real-life exposure to hypoglycaemia and cognitive function during hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes: Findings from the Hypo-RESOLVE clamp study.

AIMS

Cognitive decline during hypoglycaemia poses a risk for severe hypoglycaemia among people with type 1 diabetes, as it may compromise the ability to self-treat and recover. Antecedent hypoglycaemia has been associated with blunted counterregulatory responses to subsequent hypoglycaemia, but whether hypoglycaemia-induced cognitive dysfunction is subject to such a process of habituation is unclear. We investigated the association between recent real-life exposure to hypoglycaemia recorded by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and cognitive function during a hypoglycaemic clamp.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty-two people with type 1 diabetes were given open intermittently scanned CGM (Freestyle Libre 1®) to record real-life hypoglycaemia for a week before participating in a hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic-hypoglycaemic clamp (mean ± SD) (2.8 ± 0.1 mmol/L). We assessed cognitive function at baseline and during hypoglycaemia using four validated tests: Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) and three subtasks of Test of Attentional Performance (TAP)-Alertness, Verbal Flexibility, and Working Memory.

RESULTS

Hypoglycaemia exposure (glucose <3.9 mmol/L) in the week before the clamp averaged 5.8 (3.1-8.8) events/week. In response to hypoglycaemia during the clamp, cognitive function declined for all cognitive function tests (all p < 0.01). No associations were identified between exposure to CGM-recorded hypoglycaemia prior to the clamp and changes in cognitive function during the clamp procedure, when adjusting for sex, age, diabetes duration, HbA and hypoglycaemia awareness status in linear regression analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that recent real-life CGM-recorded hypoglycaemia is not associated with cognitive decline during clamped hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes. This suggests that cognitive decline during hypoglycaemia is not susceptible to habituation.