Basal ganglia cerebral blood flow associates with psychomotor speed in adults with type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is associated with slower psychomotor speed, but the neural basis of this relationship is not yet understood. The basal ganglia are a set of structures that are vulnerable to small vessel disease, particularly in individuals with type 1 diabetes. Thus, we examined the relationship between psychomotor speed and resting state resting cerebral blood flow in a sample of adults with diabetes onset during childhood (≤ 17 years of age). The sample included 77 patients (39 M, 38 F) with a mean age of 47.43 ± 5.72 years, age of onset at 8.50 ± 4.26 years, and duration of disease of 38.92 ± 4.18 years. Resting cerebral blood flow was quantified using arterial spin labeling. After covarying for sex, years of education and normalized gray matter volume, slower psychomotor speed was associated with lower cerebral blood flow in bilateral caudate nucleus-thalamus and a region in the superior frontal gyrus. These results suggest that the basal ganglia and frontal cortex may underlie slower psychomotor speed in individuals with type 1 diabetes.