Older people with type 2 diabetes may have more difficulties with thinking and memory, researchers have found. Those with this condition showed a steady decline over the course of a five-year study.
“The overall message is that type 2 diabetes affects brain function,” said study author Michele Callisaya, Ph.D., a research fellow at the University of Tasmania.
Investigators were surprised, however, to find that the loss was not explained by a decline in brain volume.
Earlier research found that having diabetes could double a person’s risk of dementia, the researchers said. Although previous studies have shown the connection between the two conditions, none has proven a cause-and-effect relationship. That’s what prompted Callisaya and her colleagues to look at whether a loss of brain volume might be behind the connection.
More than 700 people aged 55 to 90 years participated in the study. Full findings appear in the journal Diabetologia.
