Relation of Diabetes to Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Among cardiovascular risk factors, type 2 diabetes mellitus has been consistently related to a higher risk of Alzheimer disease (AD).^1-6 This association is presumed to be the result of the effects of peripheral hyperinsulinemia on the clearance of brain amyloid β,^7,8 the putative main culprit in the pathogenesis of AD,⁹ or of other mechanisms such as advanced products of glycosylation.¹⁰ The prevalence of diabetes is more than 10% in the elderly population in the United States,¹¹ is twice as high in African American and Hispanic populations compared with non-Hispanic white populations,¹² and is more than 20% in persons 65 years or older in the predominantly minority population of northern Manhattan in New York, NY.¹³