This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Insulin resistance affects verbal fluency in women
Higher levels of insulin resistance can lead to increased language problems in women, whereas the APOE*E4 allele — commonly associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease — may modulate the association, according to research in Diabetologia.
“Our results suggest that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of insulin resistance on cognition than men,” Laura L. Ekblad, MD, of the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland, said in a press release. “Insulin resistance can often already be detected years before the onset of type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it may be useful to draw special attention to the preventive treatment, such as lifestyle interventions, for women at risk for type 2 diabetes, such as those with obesity.”
Laura L. Ekblad
Ekblad and colleagues analyzed data from 5,935 adults in Finland aged 30 to 97 years (mean age, 53 years; 3,262 women). Researchers used homeostatic model assessment to measure insulin resistance and visual-choice reaction-time tests to measure cognitive function; linear regression analysis was used to determine the association between the two.
Researchers found that higher insulin resistance was associated with poorer verbal fluency in women (P < .0001) but not in men (P = .56). In addition, researchers linked higher insulin resistance to poorer verbal fluency in adults who were apolipoprotein E-negative (P = .0003), but not in carriers of the gene (P = .28)
Simple reaction time also was slower among all adults with a higher insulin resistance (P = .02), according to researchers.
Researchers noted that because the study was cross-sectional, casual effects of insulin resistance on cognition could not be evaluated.
“Based on our results and on previous studies on the subject, attention should be drawn to individuals at risk for insulin resistance already in early adulthood,” Ekblad told Endocrine Today. “It is likely that simple lifestyle interventions such as physical exercise and a healthier diet would have a positive effect on cognitive skills. Lifestyle interventions could possibly be better achieved if also the risk for cognitive decline would be brought up with the patient.”
The researchers said longitudinal studies should be conducted to explore the causal relations of insulin resistance and cognition. – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.