- A new study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers in Baltimore analyzed the association between prediabetes and dementia.
- Their findings did not show an overall association between prediabetes and dementia risk, but they did find that developing type 2 diabetes was associated with dementia.
- Additionally, the scientists learned that the earlier someone develops type 2 diabetes can increase dementia risk.
A study published in Diabetologia shows a connection between type 2 diabetes and dementia.
While the goal of the research was initially to find whether there is an association between prediabetes and dementia, the scientists discovered that prediabetes alone is not associated with dementia.
Instead, they learned what matters the most in terms of dementia is whether someone progresses from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes and how early the development of type 2 diabetes occurs.
With this knowledge, the medical community has yet another reason to focus on encouraging people to adapt to healthier lifestyles and not only decrease the burden of type 2 diabetes on the healthcare system but also reduce the number of people who develop dementia.
The authors utilized data from the
The ARIC study is a prospective cohort study that followed participants for almost 30 years.
The researchers in the diabetes project used data from 11,656 participants ages 45 to 64 when initially recruited. None of the participants had a type 2 diabetes diagnosis when the study began, although 20% had prediabetes.
Throughout the participants’ follow-ups, some of the data the researchers from the ARIC study tracked included blood sugar, medications, medical reports, and cholesterol levels. Additionally, the researchers used…
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