Verbal intellectual and verbal memory performance of youths with childhood-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Tested the hypothesis that memory dysfunction mediated the decline in verbal intellectual performance (as measured by the WISC-R Vocabulary test) that we detected previously in a prospective study of children who developed IDDM between the ages of 8 to 13 years. Three tests of verbal learning and memory were administered to 57 diabetic youths at end-of-study who had been followed for 8 years, on average. Memory performance at end-of-study was predicted only by Vocabulary test score at study entry. IDDM duration, long-term metabolic control, depression/anxiety, demographic variables, or blood glucose level at the time of assessment were not associated with memory test scores. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that level of performance on a test of short-term or working memory was associated with magnitude of decline in verbal intellectual performance over time, providing partial support for our hypothesis.