Diabetes Linked to Younger Age of Dementia Diagnosis

Patients with diabetes were more likely to be younger at the age of dementia diagnosis but less likely to receive appropriate treatment for dementia, according to the findings of a recent study.

The cross-sectional registry-based study included 29,630 patients, of whom 4881 (16.5%) were diagnosed with diabetes, from the Swedish Dementia Registry. Data on dementia diagnosis, dementia type, and demographics were collected. Additionally, antidiabetic, dementia, cardiovascular, and psychotropic medication use were assessed using data from the Swedish Patient Register and Prescribed Drug Register. Associations between diabetes and dementia were calculated using logistic regression.
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Analyses using adjusted models showed that diabetes was associated with younger age at dementia diagnosis (odds ratio [OR] 0.97), male sex (OR 1.41), vascular dementia (OR 1.17), and mixed dementia (OR 1.21). However, dementia with Lewy bodies (OR 0.64), treatment with antidepressants (OR 0.85), and Parkinson disease dementia (OR 0.46) were not common among patients with diabetes.

In addition, patients with diabetes who were diagnosed with Alzheimer disease were significantly less likely to receive treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors (OR 0.78) and memantine (0.68).

“Patients with diabetes were younger at dementia diagnosis and obtained less dementia medication for Alzheimer disease, suggesting less optimal dementia treatment,” the researchers concluded. “Future research should evaluate survival and differences in metabolic profile in patients with diabetes and different dementia disorders.”

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Secnik J, Cermakova P, Fereshtehnejad SM, et al. Diabetes in a large dementia cohort: clinical characteristics and treatment from the Swedish Dementia Registry. Diabetes Care. 2017;40(9): 1159-1166. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc16-2516.