Diabetics found more prone to mild memory problems
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Diabetics are at higher risk of getting a type of mild memory impairment that may later develop into Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Several studies have shown that people with diabetes are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
A new study, published in the Archives of Neurology, found diabetes was linked to a significantly higher risk of a memory problem known as mild cognitive impairment.
That disorder, marked by greater-than-normal trouble with memory and recognition, may be a transitional step in the development of Alzheimer's disease and serves as yet another reason for preventing diabetes.
Alzheimer's disease affects 28 million people globally, and more than 5 million people in the United States.
About 20.8 million children and U.S. adults have diabetes, which causes about 5 percent of all deaths globally each year.
Most diabetics have type 2, or adult-onset diabetes, in which the body loses its ability to use insulin.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center studied 918 people over age 65 who had risk factors for heart disease but no dementia or cognitive impairment when they started the study in the early 1990s.
They were examined every 18 months, with physical, neurological and memory tests.
Of those studied, 23.9 percent had diabetes.
They were followed for about six years and 334 developed mild cognitive impairment, including 160 cases of amnestic mild cognitive impairment, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease.
Those with diabetes had a significantly higher risk of cognitive decline, especially the amnestic type, which involves more memory loss than disorientation and language difficulties.
A prior study by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, suggested that about 12 percent of people over the age of 70 have mild cognitive impairment. These patients are three to four times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.
"Our results provide further support to the potentially important independent role of diabetes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease," the Columbia researchers wrote.
