Type 2 diabetes is known to be a risk factor for developing cognitive impairment and dementia, with studies indicating that people living with the condition may be twice as likely to develop dementia compared to the general population. Findings presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) now suggest that the diabetes risk of people with type 2 diabetes varies depending on the type of dementia.
These new findings are based on an observational study that compared over 370,000 people with type 2 diabetes with almost 2 million matched controls, following them up over an average period of 7 years. Co-led by Prof. Naveed Sattar at the University of Glasgow and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg, the study indicated that people with type 2 diabetes have a 36% increased risk of developing vascular dementia, compared to a 9% increased likelihood of being diagnosed with non-vascular dementia. Interestingly, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease dementia did not appear to be higher in those with type 2 diabetes compared to their unaffected counterparts, underlining the strong connection between diabetes and vascular health.
Blood sugar control was also shown to impact dementia risk: people with poorly-controlled diabetes had almost double the vascular dementia risk compared to people with good blood sugar control. Although the study authors emphasised that the absolute risk of developing vascular dementia was still low, they highlighted the importance of healthy lifestyle habits for dementia prevention and care.
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