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Risk for dementia increases with diabetes complications
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Dementia is more likely to develop in older adults with diabetes who have high rates of complications compared with those with lower complications rates, according to recent study findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
“Our research is the first nationwide study to examine how the severity and progression of diabetes is related to dementia diagnosis rates in an older population,” Wei-Che Chiu, MD, PhD, of the National Taiwan University College of Public Health, said in a press release. “We found that as diabetes progresses and an individual experiences more complications from the disease, the risk of dementia rises as well.”
Wei-Che Chiu
Chiu and colleagues evaluated data from the Taiwan National Insurance Research Database on 431,178 adults older than 50 years with new-onset diabetes to determine the effect of the rates of diabetes complications on the risk for dementia.
Researchers used an adapted version of the Diabetes Complications Severity Index (aDCSI) to determine the rates of complications and used scores of 1, 2, 3 or greater than 3 to measure complications. Mean follow-up occurred for 5.6 ± 3.5 years.
Overall, 6.2% of the participants were diagnosed with dementia.
At the end of follow-up and after adjustment for age of diabetes onset, sex, income, urbanization, comorbidities, diabetes drugs and drug adherence, participants with higher scores on the aDCSI had a higher risk for developing dementia compared with those with lower scores.
After adjustment for confounding factors, a significantly higher risk for dementia was found with first 6-year progression of diabetes. Dementia was associated with neuropathy, cerebrovascular and metabolic complications, but not nephropathy and cardiovascular complications.
“The study demonstrates why it is so crucial for people with diabetes to work closely with health care providers on controlling their blood sugar,” Chiu said. “Managing the disease can help prevent the onset of dementia later in life.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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