High risk of vascular dementia in patients with T2D

Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have a 36% higher risk of developing vascular dementia, mainly thought to be due to cardiovascular (CV) risk factors.

Presented by Dr Carlos Celis-Morales (University of Glasgow, Scotland), this conclusion was derived by accessing the Swedish National Diabetes Register, holding data on 378,299 T2D patients and 1,886,022 age- and sex-matched controls to assess dementia risk in diabetic patients [1]. The mean follow-up time was 7 years, and during that period 10,143 (2.7%) individuals who had diabetes developed dementia as well as 46,479 (2.5%) of the controls. The average age of the subjects was 64 years.

Patients with T2D had an 8% increased risk for developing non-vascular dementia (HR 1.08; 95% CI, 1.04-1.12), which was small but significant, and an 8% reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease (HR 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87-0.98). However, the risk of developing vascular dementia was increased by 36% (HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.03-1.09). When stratified by HbA1c levels, researchers found that people who had HbA1c >10.1% had a 93% increase in the risk of vascular dementia compared to those with HbA1c <7%. The risk of non-vascular dementia increased by 67% and that of Alzheimer's disease-associated dementia by 34%. It was found that CV factors as a whole accounted for 40% of the association between diabetes and dementia.

The greatest individual effects were caused by high blood pressure, existing CV disease, duration of T2D, and body mass index. These findings suggest that high-risk individuals could be identified and specific interventions, dietary regimens, or treatments could be used to reduce the risk of dementia in T2D patients.

1. Celis-Morales C, et al. Glycated hemoglobin, type 2 diabetes and the links to dementia and its major subtypes: findings from the Swedish National Diabetes Register. EASD 2020. Abstract #6.

Posted on 14 December 202017 December 2020