May 19, 2010

Two researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine have won a $3.3 million five-year grant to conduct a nationwide study on how to prevent neurological injuries caused by brain swelling in children experiencing diabetic crisis.

In children with type-I diabetes 25 percent to 40 percent are first diagnosed after experiencing diabetic crisis. That can manifest as vomiting, fatigue, confusion and dehydration. Serious brain swelling occurs in one percent of these children and 25 percent of them die from the swelling. A more common result of diabetic crisis would be memory problems.

Nathan Kuppermann, professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics and Nicole Glaser, associate professor of pediatric endocrinology, received the award and will lead the investigation in collaboration with nine other medical centers in the U.S. They hope to enroll 1,500 children to determine the best method for rehydrating children in diabetic crisis in hospital emergency departments to avoid neurological problems.

“This type of study has never been done before, not even in a smaller sample,” Glaser said in a press release.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded the grant.