Abstract

RELATION BETWEEN DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE 2 AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT: A PREDICTOR OF ALZHEIMER�¢����S DISEASE

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is an important emerging problem since it is considered as the forerunner of dementia. Diabetes is one of the risk factors for dementia, but the mechanism by which it causes it is still under research. Across the world, Alzheimer’s disease is by far the single most common cause of dementia and more research is focused on this global health problem. Aim: The study was taken to evaluate the association between cognitive dysfunction and glycemic control in type 2 diabetic individuals. Materials and Methods: This was a case-control, cross-sectional study done for individuals with and without Diabetes mellitus. Mini Mental state examination (MMSE) was administered and those who scores below 24 was taken as an indicator of cognitive impairment and they were given questionnaires of Blessed Dementia Scale and Hachinski Ischemic Score (HIS). Results: Total 60 (30-cases and 30-controls) were taken up for the study. The mean age was 66.8 for males and 63.5 for females with a male: female ratio of 0.764.The HbA1c levels were 5.65% (SD: 0 .75) for controls (B) and 8.20% (SD: 1.88) for the cases (A) (p value <.001). The mean Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score for cases (A) was 23.18 (S.D-0.445) and for controls (B) was 25.10(S.D- 4.16).There was a significant correlation between the level of HbA1c and MMSE scores (PCC: 0.537 with Sig.2 tailed <0.01). The diabetic people showed significant positive correlation between MMSE and BDS-A (PCC:0.756(**)). Conclusion: The results of our study strongly favours that uncontrolled diabetes mellitus type2 is an independent risk factor for cognitive dysfunction and dementia especially Alzheimer’s type.

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