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Diabetes linked to Alzheimer's disease

People suffering from type 2 diabetes have a nearly six times higher risk of having plaque deposits in the brain that may cause Alzheimer's.

Diabetes linked to Alzheimers disease

People suffering from type 2 diabetes have a nearly six times higher risk of having plaque deposits in the brain that may cause Alzheimer's.

Both type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease have been rapidly increasing in incidence. While numerous studies have found a link between cognitive decline and dementia in people with type 2 diabetes, the current study sought to determine the reason for that link. Using autopsies from 135 Japanese adults, the researchers were able to compare if different indicators of insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes correlated with the development of plaque deposits in the brain (neuritic plaques) or neurofibrillary tangles, which are found in dying cells in the brain. Plaques and tangles are thought by many to be the two main causes of the destruction of brain tissue seen in Alzheimer's disease.

All of those autopsied died between 1998 and 2003. In 1988, they had undergone numerous tests as part of an ongoing study on brain and heart health. The tests included an oral 2-hour glucose tolerance test, fasting blood sugar and insulin levels, and a measurement of insulin resistance using a test called homeostasis assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The researchers adjusted the data to control for age, sex, blood pressure, cholesterol, body-mass index, smoking, exercise and cerebrovascular disease.

They found no association between diabetes risk factors and the development of tangles. However, higher levels of blood sugar two hours after eating, high fasting insulin levels and an elevated HOMA-IR score were associated with a higher risk of developing plaques. Fasting blood sugar levels were not associated with an increased risk of plaques, according to the study.

When the researchers compared varying levels of diabetes risk factors, such as fasting insulin, they found a linear association with the development of plaques. For example, fasting insulin was broken into three groups: low, medium and high. The low group didn't have an increased risk of plaques, while the medium group had more than twice the risk of brain plaques, and those in the high group had a six times higher risk of plaques than those in the low group.

The researchers also found an association between a gene long implicated in Alzheimer's disease (ApoE4) and diabetes risk factors and the development of plaques.
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