Cognitive Dysfunction and Diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus and cognitive dysfunction are highly prevalent in the aging population. In the aging society, clinicians will be increasingly tasked with managing elderly patients who have both cognitive dysfunction and diabetes. A growing number of epidemiological and clinical studies confirmed that diabetes is associated with an increase in the risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia. Cognitive dysfunction is of particular importance because it is associated with poor self-management ability, poor diabetes management with more frequent severe hypoglycemic episodes, and increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Current diabetes guidelines recommend screening for cognitive dysfunction in older and high-risk patients and providing individualized guidance for patients with cognitive dysfunction. Nonetheless, there is limited awareness among clinicians regarding this subject compared to other diabetic micro- and macrovascular complications. Recently, there has been increasing understanding in this field through multimodal neuroimaging and biomarkers for early detection of cognitive dysfunction in diabetes. In addition, new agents such as glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists showed promising protective effects against cognitive dysfunction and dementia in patients with type 2 diabetes. In this review, we summarize the relationship between diabetes and cognitive dysfunction, especially dementia, and some contributing factors and pathogenesis of dementia in diabetes. We also review how anti-diabetic medications may influence cognitive dysfunction and clinical management guidance.