Diabetes is associated with cognitive impairment no dementia in the aging, demographics, and memory study (ADAMS)

Abstract

Individuals with diabetes mellitus have a 1.39 times increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, a 2.38 times increased risk of vascular dementia, and a faster rate of cognitive decline compared to individuals without diabetes (Lu et al., 2009). In a study, over a 9-year follow-up diabetes was associated with accelerated progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia, but was not associated with progression from no impairment to MCI (Xu et al., 2010). Many previous studies on cognitive impairment and diabetes are limited by the use of cognitive screens to diagnose and assess cognitive impairment. A few studies diagnosing cognitive impairment with comprehensive neuropsychological batteries provide mixed results. For instance, Luchinger et al. (2007) found that diabetes was correlated with the presence of MCI, whereas diabetes was not associated with the presence of dementia versus no dementia in the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study ADAMS; (Llewellyn et al., 2010).