A 4 year follow-up study of cognitive functioning in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Open Access
- 31 October 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Diabetologia
- Vol. 53 (1), 58-65
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-009-1571-9
Abstract
Aims/hypothesis Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with moderate decrements in cognitive functioning, mainly in verbal memory, information-processing speed and executive functions. How this cognitive profile evolves over time is uncertain. The present study aims to provide detailed information on the evolution of cognitive decrements in type 2 diabetes over time. Methods Sixty-eight patients with type 2 diabetes and 38 controls matched for age, sex and estimated IQ performed an elaborate neuropsychological examination in 2002–2004 and again in 2006–2008, including 11 tasks covering five cognitive domains. Vascular and metabolic determinants were recorded. Data were analysed with repeated measures analysis of variance, including main effects for group, time and the group × time interaction. Results Patients with type 2 diabetes showed moderate decrements in information-processing speed (mean difference in z scores [95% CI] −0.37 [−0.69, −0.05]) and attention and executive functions (−0.25 [−0.49, −0.01]) compared with controls at both the baseline and the 4 year follow-up examination. After 4 years both groups showed a decline in abstract reasoning (−0.16 [−0.30, −0.02]) and attention and executive functioning (−0.29 [−0.40, −0.17]), but there was no evidence for accelerated cognitive decline in the patients with type 2 diabetes as compared with controls (all p > 0.05). Conclusions/interpretation In non-demented patients with type 2 diabetes, cognitive decrements are moderate in size and cognitive decline over 4 years is largely within the range of what can be viewed in normal ageing. Apparently, diabetes-related cognitive changes develop slowly over a prolonged period of time.This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Short-term longitudinal trends in cognitive performance in older adults with type 2 diabetesJournal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2009
- Cognition in the Early Stage of Type 2 DiabetesDiabetes Care, 2009
- Stepwise screening for diabetes identifies people with high but modifiable coronary heart disease risk. The ADDITION studyDiabetologia, 2008
- Metabolic and vascular determinants of impaired cognitive performance and abnormalities on brain magnetic resonance imaging in patients with type 2 diabetesDiabetologia, 2007
- Long-Term Effect of Diabetes and Its Treatment on Cognitive FunctionNew England Journal of Medicine, 2007
- A detailed profile of cognitive dysfunction and its relation to psychological distress in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitusJournal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2007
- Book Review Medicare Meets Mephistopheles By David A. Hyman. 138 pp., illustrated. Washington, DC, Cato Institute, 2006. $14.95 (cloth); $9.95 (paper). 978-1-930865-90-7 (cloth); 978-1-930865-92-1 (paper).New England Journal of Medicine, 2007
- Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlates of Impaired Cognition in Patients With Type 2 DiabetesDiabetes, 2006
- Global prevalence of dementia: a Delphi consensus studyThe Lancet, 2005
- Cognitive Function in Younger Type II DiabetesDiabetes Care, 1997