Central Part of the Auditory Analyser in Children with Type 1 Diabetes

Aim. The present article assesses the state of the central part of the auditory analyser in children with type 1 diabetes.

Materials and methods. The study included 71 children with type 1 diabetes mellitus who were treated at the Endocrinology Department of the Children’s Territorial Clinical Hospital from September 2017 to February 2018. The children’s age ranged from 7 to 15 years (8±2.6). Group A comprised 34 children who were fi rst diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with the duration of clinical manifestations not exceeding 3 months; whereas group B included 37 children who had been suffering from type 1 diabetes for 1–5 years. The control group was represented by 30 children of the same age group without a somatic pathology (group K). The functional state of the central part of the auditory analyser was assessed when studying brainstem evoked potentials of short, middle and long latency.

Results. In the course of studying short-latency brainstem evoked potentials at a broadband-click stimulus frequency of 10 Hz and an intensity of 70 dB, the latent periods of peaks and peak-topeak intervals were analysed in groups A, B and K. Statistically signifi cant differences were observed for I and V latent periods of peaks, as well as for the I–V inter-peak interval. At a click stimulus intensity of 70 dB, peaks and peak-to-peak intervals of middle-latency brainstem evoked potentials revealed differences in the values of NO, PO, Na, Pa and NO–PO between the groups of patients with type 1 diabetes and the control group. Greater statistical differences, as compared to the control group, were observed in the latent periods of long-latency brainstem evoked potentials for interval P1 in group A and intervals P2 and N2 in group B (unfavourable course) during 100 dB stimulation at a repetition frequency of 1 Hz in a time window of 50 ms. The presence of differences between groups A and B in the parameters of peak P2 (p ≤ 0.07), as well as peak intervals P2–N2, N1–N2, N1–P1, N2–P2 and N1–P2, may indicate signifi cant differences in the centres of the auditory analyser (p ≤ 0.1). At the same time, the maximum activity of the studied parameters was found in the group of patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes.

Conclusions. The study of different types of brainstem evoked potentials, characterising the central parts of the auditory analyser, in children with type 1 diabetes allowed the authors to register functional disorders both in the brainstem segment and in the cortical structures. This fact indirectly indicates initial manifestations of diabetic neuropathy in the studied category of patients and can be used in the future for diagnosing CNS disorders.