A Taiwanese cohort study reveals a deeper connection between type 1 diabetes and neurological problems of patients later in life. The disease may increase the risk of epilepsy by threefold.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition characterized by the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, which helps regulate glucose. In turn, the patient experiences frequent abnormally high blood sugar levels, which can later lead to serious complications like cataracts, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and nerve and kidney damage.
Unlike type 2 diabetes, which can manifest later, type 1 diabetes is often diagnosed before the age of 40. So far, the United States places it sixth in terms of global incidence with an average rate of 23.7 percent, according to Diabetes UK.
Using a health insurance database, the researchers led by Dr. I-Ching Chou worked with 2,568 type 1 diabetic patients and 10 people without the condition who served as a control group. They then compared the risk of epilepsy between the two groups using computer modeling and comparative analysis and found out that there's a close association between the two disorders.
The results suggest that those with type 1 diabetes had a higher risk of epilepsy than the control group. The patients were also "2.84 times as likely to develop epilepsy," said the study. This is even if the data were adjusted for other factors.
The authors believe that the information they obtained is "consistent" with other previous similar studies that show increased epilepsy risk among patients with inflammatory or autoimmune disease.
However, the team is not exactly sure about the reason behind the association. One of the possible explanations is that the long-term disease can affect the central nervous system, which may then "alter the balance between the inhibition and excitation of neuronal networks and cause focal motor seizures," they added.
So far, there's no known cure for type 1 diabetes, and the only way to manage it is through regular insulin injections. Scientists are looking into cell transplants or sensors to introduce insulin without needles.
The study was published in Diabetologia.
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