Session Information
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Session Title: Research Spotlight: General Rehabilitation
Session Time: 1:30pm-2:15pm
Location: Research Hub - Live Theater
Disclosures: Ali A. Weinstein, PhD: Nothing to disclose
Objective: To determine if there is a difference between individuals with and without Type II Diabetes (T2DM) on fine motor and perceptual reasoning performance. To investigate the correlation between performance on fine motor and perceptual reasoning tasks.
Design: Case-control study
Setting: Community hospital
Participants: 44 individuals, 22 with T2DM (age: 53±11, body-mass index (BMI): 33±5, 55% female) and 22 without T2DM (age: 46±14, BMI: 29±3, 59% female)
Interventions: Not applicable
Main Outcome Measures: Grooved Pegboard Test (GPB) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Matrix Reasoning (MR) subtest.
Results: Individuals with T2DM differed from individuals without T2DM on both GPB for dominant (87±12 versus 72±12 seconds, P<.01) and non-dominant hand trials (91±19 versus 80±11 seconds, P=.02) while controlling for gender and age. There was not a statistically significant difference on MR (10±4 versus 11±3, P=.30). The correlations between GPB and MR were not statistically significant in either group (r’s<.11; P’s>.65). A statistically significant correlation between GPB dominant hand performance and glycated hemoglobin (A1C) was found (r=.61, P=.002) in individuals without T2DM but was not statistically significant in individuals with T2DM (r=-.13, P=.41) and there were no statistically significant relationships found between A1C and MR.
Conclusions: Many studies have focused on issues related to neuropathy in individuals with T2DM, but the vast majority has focused on feet. The associations between manual dexterity in individuals with T2DM has received considerably less attention in the literature. The current study demonstrates differences in fine motor performance, specifically, without differences demonstrated in higher level cognitive processes. In individuals without T2DM, we demonstrated a relationship between A1C (within normal ranges) and fine motor performance. The decrement in fine motor performance may be a warning for potential future development of T2DM and/or worsening overall cognitive performance, but longitudinal research is necessary to investigate that possibility.
Level of Evidence: Level III
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Weinstein AA, Avila Ld, Escheik C, Price JK, Golabi P, Gerber L, Younossi Z. Differential Fine Motor Performance and Perceptual Reasoning in Individuals with and Without Type II Diabetes [abstract]. PM R. 2019; 11(S2)(suppl 2). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/differential-fine-motor-performance-and-perceptual-reasoning-in-individuals-with-and-without-type-ii-diabetes/. Accessed May 22, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2019
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/differential-fine-motor-performance-and-perceptual-reasoning-in-individuals-with-and-without-type-ii-diabetes/