A LINK between cognitive decline and type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes and cognitive decline
A LINK between cognitive decline and type 2 diabetes has important implications for Australia's ageing population.
Researchers at Monash University have found that cognitive decline in people with type 2 diabetes is likely due to brain atrophy, or shrinkage, that resembles patterns seen in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
The study compared brain scans and cognitive function between people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus. They found brain atrophy, a condition in which brain cells are lost or connections in the brain are damaged, rather than cerebrovascular lesions, was likely the primary reason for cognitive impairment associated with the disease.
Joint lead researcher Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth said both were highly common disorders affecting the ageing population and the research showed there may be a mechanistic link between them.
"Indeed, generalised brain atrophy may be the key driver of cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes and such atrophy is also commonly seen in people with dementia," he said.
Researchers compared cognitive function and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the brain in more than 700 people with and without type 2 diabetes.
Those with diabetes performed less well in certain cognitive tests and had greater shrinkage in specific regions of the brain, which appeared to drive the differences in cognitive function.
Although the researchers found participants with diabetes also had more strokes on MRI, this did not explain the cognitive difference between groups.
The finding, published in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care, will lead further research in trying to identify why people with type 2 diabetes develop brain atrophy, and how such an atrophy may be presented or slowed.
• www.monash.edu/research
I am always wary of these causal links that stats make . I could equally say that about 3per cent of the Australian population has type.2 diabetes this is heavily scewed to the more disadvantaged in our society . Therefore brain atrophy could be linked to more disadvantaged being less educated and using there brains less .