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Abdominal obesity with diabetes doubles risk for cognitive impairment
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Among older Chinese adults with abdominal obesity, having type 2 diabetes more than doubled the risk for developing cognitive impairment, although neither condition was independently linked to dementia risk, study data show.
“Diabetes and obesity often develop in the same context of insulin resistance, which is thought to be the crossroad of metabolic and cognitive disorders,” Yanbo Li, of the department of neurology at The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, and colleagues wrote. “Although diabetes and obesity were already considered to be associated with cognitive impairment in older adults as independent factors, the interaction effect of diabetes with obesity on the development of cognitive impairment is unclear.”
In a cross-sectional study, Li and colleagues analyzed data from 865 adults aged at least 55 years recruited from Qubao Village in Xi'an, China, from October 2014 to March 2015. All participants provided fasting blood samples and underwent neuropsychological assessments (Mini-Mental State Examination). Abdominal obesity was assessed using waist circumference (obesity defined as 90 cm for men and 85 cm for women) and waist to hip ratio (obesity defined as 0.9 for men and 0.85 for women). Researchers examined the relationship between diabetes, abdominal obesity and cognitive impairment with multiple regression models using interaction and stratified analysis.
Within the cohort, 155 participants (17.9%) presented with cognitive impairment.
In unadjusted analyses, researchers found that diabetes was associated with cognitive impairment (OR = 1.573; 95% CI, 1.035-2.391), but results were attenuated after adjusting for sex, education, marital status, physical activity and comorbidities. Conversely, participants with higher BMI, waist circumference or waist to hip ratio appeared to have a lower risk for cognitive impairment, but those associations also were not significant after adjustment.
In logistic regression analysis, for participants with abdominal obesity, diabetes was associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment vs. those who had abdominal obesity but not diabetes, both when defined by waist circumference (adjusted OR = 2.436; 95% CI, 1.345-4.411) and by waist to hip ratio (aOR = 2.348; 95% CI, 1.373-4.014).
“The interaction between diabetes and abdominal obesity on cognitive impairment suggests that common etiology, environmental risk factors, genetic background or pathways may be involved in the association with cognitive impairment,” the researchers wrote. – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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