Abstract

Background: Children with types I and II diabetes have to follow a strict diet for an indefinite period of time. In addition, they are also susceptible to stable cognitive impairments including decreased in information processing speed due to the variations in blood sugar levels.  The main propose of this study was to compare children with types I and II diabetes in visual and auditory information processing speed related to food stimulies.

Methods: Forty-three children with diabetes between 6 to 15 years of age admitted to the diabetes center of Firozghar Hospital participated in this study. They were selected through available sampling. Visual and auditory stimuli were presented for the assessment of information processing speed related to food and neutral stimuli. SPSS v.14 was applied to data analysis. ANOVA was used for the comparison between the two groups.

Results: Findings showed that children with type I diabetes, in comparison to type II diabetes experienced more damage in the speed of visual and auditory information processing. Both participants with diabetes type I and II processed images and sounds related to food more quickly than nonfood stimuli. Food processing speed increased in stimuli related to food when children with type II diabetes experienced more perceived stress.

Conclusions: Base on findings of this article using strategies for self-regulation to avoid high-sugar foods have been very difficult because attention to food stimuli in children increases, self-regulation programs are not easy to implement. Therefore, it is necessary to apply new behavioral therapy to control diabetes in children.

Key words: Child, Diabetes, Visual processing, audio processing, Food deprivation.