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. 2024 Aug 17;16(16):2751.
doi: 10.3390/nu16162751.

Cognitive Function during and after Pregnancy and One-Year Postpartum in Type 1 Diabetes: A Longitudinal Study

Marina Ivanisevic  1 , Vesna Elvedji Gasparovic  1 , Mislav Herman  1 , Josip Delmis  1
Affiliations

Cognitive Function during and after Pregnancy and One-Year Postpartum in Type 1 Diabetes: A Longitudinal Study

Marina Ivanisevic et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: This study aims to compare the cognitive function of women with T1DM during and after pregnancy, as well as one year post-delivery. Additionally, it aims to investigate the impacts of leptin and body mass index on cognitive function.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort study was conducted involving 64 pregnant women with T1DM. Cognitive function was assessed using a cognitive assessment battery during the first trimester, immediately after delivery, and one year postpartum for the final assessment. This program evaluates a wide range of cognitive abilities and provides a comprehensive cognitive well-being score (high-moderate-low), identifying strengths and weaknesses in reasoning, memory, attention, coordination, and perception.

Results: The average age of the participants was 30.9 years, with a mean diabetes duration of 14.9 years. Pregnant women with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher faced an increased risk of reduced cognitive function, memory, and reasoning. Additionally, mothers with lower overall cognitive function and memory levels had significantly higher concentrations of leptin in their blood.

Conclusions: Cognitive functions-particularly reasoning and attention-are adversely affected in women with T1DM during pregnancy and shortly after delivery. Elevated BMI and leptin levels can be linked to worse cognitive outcomes in this population.

Keywords: attention; body mass index; cognitive function; leptin; postpartum; pregnancy; reasoning; type 1 diabetes mellitus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The reasoning scores of pregnant women based on their leptin groups. Significant differences in reasoning scores were found between the overweight and obesity groups (Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, p = 0.017).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The memory scores of pregnant women based on their leptin groups. Significant differences in memory scores were found between the >39.1 and 14.1–39 ng/L leptin groups. Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests, p = 0.022. (** Indicates two participants with high leptin levels and high memory scores).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The memory scores of pregnant women based on their body mass index (BMI) groups. Significant differences were found in memory scores between the overweight and obesity groups (p = 0.012) and the normal-weight and obesity groups (p = 0.032). Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The total cognitive function scores of pregnant women based on their leptin groups.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The total cognitive function scores of pregnant women were analyzed based on their leptin groups. Significant differences were found between the obesity and normal-weight groups (p = 0.023) and between the overweight and obesity groups (p = 0.008). The Kruskal–Wallis test was used, with Bonferroni correction applied for multiple comparisons.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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