Introduction:
Although diabetes through several possible mechanisms such as increased
microvascular pathology and inefficiency of glucose utilization during cognitive tasks can be associated
with cognitive impairment, there is inconclusive evidence that shows elderly diabetic patients
under therapy have higher cognitive function compared to their non-diabetics counterparts.
The present study was conducted to elucidate the association between diabetes and cognitive function
in later life.
Methods:
Data for this study, consisting of 2202 older adults aged 60 years and above, were taken
from a population-based survey entitled “Identifying Psychosocial and Identifying Economic Risk
Factor of Cognitive Impairment among Elderly. Data analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS
Version 23.0.
Results:
The mean of MMSE was found to be 22.67 (SD = 4.93). The overall prevalence of selfreported
diabetes was found to be 23.6% (CI95%: 21.8% - 25.4%). The result of independent t-test
showed diabetic subjects had a higher mean score of MMSE (M = 23.05, SD =4 .55) than their
counterparts without diabetes (M = 22.55, SD = 5.04) (t = -2.13 p<.05). The results of multiple linear
regression analysis showed that diabetes was not significantly associated with cognitive function,
after controlling the possible confounding factors.
Conclusions:
The findings from the current study revealed that diabetes is not associated with cognitive
decline. This study supports the findings that long-term treatment of diabetes may reduce the
risk of cognitive decline. This finding may provide new opportunities for the prevention and management
of cognitive decline.
Childhood deprivation and later-life cognitive function in a population-based study of older rural South Africans
