Adult-onset diabetes slows mental functioning in several ways, with deficits appearing early

January 5, 2009

Adults with diabetes experience a slowdown in several types of mental processing, which appears early in the disease and persists into old age, according to new research. Given the sharp rise in new cases of diabetes, this finding means that more adults may soon be living with mild but lasting deficits in their thought processes.

A full analysis appears in the January issue of Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.

Researchers at Canada's University of Alberta analyzed a cross-section of adults with and without adult-onset Type 2 diabetes, all followed in the Victoria Longitudinal Study. At three-year intervals, this study tracks three independent samples of initially healthy older adults to assess biomedical, health, cognitive and neurocognitive aspects of aging. The Neuropsychology study involved 41 adults with diabetes and 424 adults in good health, between ages 53 and 90.

The research confirmed previous reports that diabetes impairs cognition and added two important findings. First, it teased out the specific domains hurt by diabetes. Second, it revealed that the performance gap was not worse in the older group. Thus, the reductions in executive function and processing speed seem to begin earlier in the disease.

Healthy adults performed significantly better than adults with diabetes on two of the five domains tested: executive functioning, with significant differences across four different tests, and speed, with significant differences or trends across five different tests. There were no significant differences on tests of episodic and semantic memory, verbal fluency, reaction time and perceptual speed.

When researchers divided participants into young-old and old-old, with age 70 as the cutoff, they found the same pattern of cognitive differences between young-old and old-old in the diabetes and control groups. Thus, the researchers concluded, the diabetes-linked cognitive deficits appear early and remain stable.

"Speed and executive functioning are thought to be among the major components of cognitive health," says co-author Roger Dixon, PhD. With Type 2 diabetes a growing concern among adults of all ages, but especially those above age 30, Dixon says that public health programs could check the cognitive status of people with more advanced or severe cases; ensure that diet and medications are effectively employed in all early diagnosed cases; and enact possible cognitive monitoring or training programs for people with diabetes. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new cases of diabetes nearly doubled in the past decade, with nearly one new case for every 100 adults between the years 2005 and 2007.

The normal age-related slowing of thought processes could be exacerbated by diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, says Dixon. But, he continues, "There could be some ways to compensate for these declines, at least early and with proper management." The level of impairment detected, he adds, should not make it hard for people to manage their condition.

Diabetes is a known risk factor for late-life neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Although the deficits detected in the current sample were not clinically significant, they appear (according to subsequent research by the authors) to foreshadow additional deficits. Only further study would reveal whether it's possible to "connect the dots" between mild early deficits in speed and executive function, and later signs of a progressive cognitive impairment.

Article: "Exploring Effects of Type 2 Diabetes on Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults," Sophie E. Yeung, PhD, Ashley L. Fischer, PhD, and Roger A. Dixon, PhD, University of Alberta; Neuropsychology, Vol. 23, No. 1.

Source: American Psychological Association


Rank 5 /5 (1 vote)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Exercise and weight loss
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • "The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Oncolytic adenovirus
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Nutrition label stuffs and diets
    createdFeb 02, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 2 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 3 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (55) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly

(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life

Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 13


Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact

Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.

Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Researchers find extensive RNA editing in human transcriptome

In a new study published online in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, reported the evidence of extensive RNA editing in a human cell line by analysis of RNA-seq data, demons ...