Diabetes mellitus type 2 as a major risk factor of developing Alzheimer-s disease in Pakistani population

ABSTRACT

Diabetes mellitus type-2 [DMT2] could increase the risk of Alzheimers disease [AD] specifically related dementia, through several biological pathways, but the relationship between DM and the development of AD remains uncertain. The aim of the present study was to explore the status of diabetes as one of the major risk factors of cognitive decline and dementia in AD and to compare the risk of developing AD among subjects with and without DM. The baseline examination was conducted from January 2008 to October 2010 on 611 subjects of both sexes who were above 50 years of age, to detect the prevalent cases of dementia. The Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] was done on all of these subjects. At each follow-up, random blood glucose levels were determined; all participants underwent a comprehensive clinical examination The study shows that risk of dementia increases with age, duration of diabetes and relevant conditions e.g. obesity. The risk of Dementia increases with duration of diabetes and the chi-square tests verify the claim. The calculated chi-square test statistics value was found to be 130.26 with degrees of freedom 9, corresponding p-value is [<0.005]. It was also found that obese diabetics had higher risk of developing AD, as well as those having borderline diabetes were also at the higher risk. The present study revealed that DMT2 is one of the major risk factors that would increase the risk of AD; but along with other factors like obesity, lifestyle and aging, it can lead to AD and related pathological conditions in individuals markedly characterized by dementia and cognitive decline