Stabilizing low blood sugar in infancy prevents long-term brain damage
Date:
March 30, 2022
Source:
University of Waterloo
Summary:
Low blood sugar in infancy is serious, but treatment can ward off
long- term brain damage in infants, a new study has found.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Low blood sugar in infancy is serious, but treatment can ward off
long-term brain damage in infants, a new study has found.
==========================================================================
The study from the University of Waterloo and the University of Auckland
is the first research of its kind to declare stabilizing blood sugar
levels in newborns with hypoglycemia prevents brain damage.
Low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, occurs when the level of
glucose in the blood is too low. Low blood sugar is very common, affecting
more than one in six babies. As glucose is the main source of fuel for
the brain and the body, untreated low blood sugar can cause adverse
effects on a child's neurodevelopment up to the age of 4.5 years old.
While it's known that exposure to hypoglycemia alters the shape of the
early developmental course, there has been a significant gap in our understanding of how hypoglycemia can alter a child's development after
early childhood. The team's new study examined the long-term consequences
of a child's brain development in mid-childhood-nine to 10 years old-and
found that there was no significant difference in academic outcomes for children exposed to hypoglycemia as newborns, as compared to their peers.
"Rich pre-school and school experiences may help a child's brain to
re-organize and improve their academic abilities up to the developmental milestones of their peers," said Ben Thompson, a professor from the
School of Optometry & Vision Science at Waterloo, CEO of the Centre for
Eye and Vision Research in Hong Kong, and part of the team working on
the groundbreaking research.
Following 480 children born at risk of neonatal hypoglycemia, researchers assessed each child at aged nine to 10 in five key areas: academic
achievement, executive function, visual-motor function, psychosocial adaptation, and general health. All child participants were involved
in previous studies, providing researchers with information on their neuro-development outcomes at two and 4.5 years old.
The research team says that this catch-up in neuro-cognitive function
could be because of brain-plasticity -- the brain's ability to adapt,
change and mature as a result of experience.
"It's a big relief to know that babies who are born with and treated for
a condition as common as hypoglycemia are not likely to suffer long-term
brain damage," Thompson said.
Over the past decade, the research team has continued studying the
efficacy of dextrose gel to treat low blood sugar in the first 48-hours of
a newborn's life, avoiding the need for babies to go to newborn intensive
care units immediately after delivery. Dextrose is a sugar that comes
from corn or wheat that is chemically identical to blood sugar.
In an additional study published in the Journal for the American
Medical Association, the team assesses the later risks of dextrose
gel as a treatment for hypoglycemia in infancy, and found it caused no significant difference to the risk of neuro-sensory impairment at age
two. This treatment continues to be widely used outside of New Zealand
in a growing number of countries, including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The studies, Association of neonatal hypoglycemia with academic
performance in mid-childhood and Prophylactic oral dextrose gel and neurosensory impairment at 2-year follow-up of participants in the hPOD randomized trial, were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Waterloo. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal References:
1. Rajesh Shah, Darren W. T. Dai, Jane M. Alsweiler, Gavin T. L. Brown,
J.
Geoffrey Chase, Gregory D. Gamble, Deborah L. Harris, Peter
Keegan, Samson Nivins, Trecia A. Wouldes, Benjamin Thompson, Jason
Turuwhenua, Jane E. Harding, Christopher J. D. McKinlay, Heidi
Feldman, William Hay, Robert Hess, Darrell Wilson, Jenny Rogers,
Steven Miller, Eleanor Kennedy, Arijit Chakraborty, Jennifer Knopp,
Tony Zhou, Jocelyn Ledger, Stephanie Macdonald, Alecia McNeill,
Coila Bevan, Nataliia Burakevych, Robyn May, Safayet Hossin, Grace
McKnight, Rashedul Hasan, Jessica Wilson. Association of Neonatal
Hypoglycemia With Academic Performance in Mid-Childhood. JAMA,
2022; 327 (12): 1158 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2022.0992
2. Taygen Edwards, Jane M. Alsweiler, Caroline A. Crowther, Richard
Edlin,
Greg D. Gamble, Joanne E. Hegarty, Luling Lin, Christopher J. D.
McKinlay, Jenny A. Rogers, Benjamin Thompson, Trecia A. Wouldes,
Jane E.
Harding. Prophylactic Oral Dextrose Gel and Neurosensory Impairment
at 2- Year Follow-up of Participants in the hPOD Randomized
Trial. JAMA, 2022; 327 (12): 1149 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2022.2363 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220330103209.htm
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