Blood sugar control can reverse diabetes-related brain damage

The new study shows that the brain damage that type 1 diabetes causes to adolescents is reversible
.

Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and the Nemoor Children's Health Center in Jacksonville collaborated to lead the proof-of-concept pilot study, the most thorough investigation
on the topic to date.

                

"These results offer hope for the damage that type 1 diabetes can do to the developing brain, which may be reversible with strict glucose control," said Nelly Mauras, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Nemol Children's Health Center in Jacksonville and a professor of pediatrics at
the Mayo Clinical School of Medicine, senior author and co-lead investigator of the paper.

The study was conducted
through the Five Centers Pediatric Diabetes Research Network (DirecNet).

Dr.

Mixing a closed-loop insulin delivery system, when used properly and continuously, can increase blood sugar in a healthy range of time
.

Participants who used closed-loop glucose control systems showed significantly greater improvements in key brain indicators that reflected normal teen brain development than the standard care group — in other words, their results were closer to those of adolescents
without diabetes.

"We have long known that better control of blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes can prevent or reduce damage to some biological systems (e.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a patient's immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells
in the pancreas.

A Pilot randomized trial to examine effects of a hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system on neurodevelopmental and cognitive outcomes in adolescents with type 1 diabetes