Table of Contents
The latest research on cognitive functioning in older people with type 2 diabetes has been fruitful. According to these studies, when people with diabetes are compared to people without, there is a strong link between diabetes and several cognitive impairment conditions in the elderly. There are some difficulties with determining the right cause of all this, though. First of all, older people with diabetes usually also have other medical conditions that impair cognitive functioning, such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Also, there is a lack of consensus over the cognitive functions that should be investigated, as well as the instruments that should be used. Cognitive abilities of one individual are an extremely complicated matter, including several abilities such as abstract reasoning, verbal memory, and mental flexibility, all of which is making research much more difficult!
Type 2 diabetes has been associated with an increased risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This claim is supported by large prospective studies, which have provided strong evidence that older people with diabetes are at a significantly higher risk of developing all types of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The exact mechanism of all this is still mostly unknown. There are some theories, but the exact pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Experts proposed that diabetes doubles the risk of developing dementia, and that this is particularly true for people controlling the illness with insulin rather than oral hypoglycemic agents.
Age of the patients with cognitive impairment
Although, we’ve mentioned several times that all this happens only to the people of advanced age, this isn't entirely true! Age does not seem to affect all areas of cognition and all older adults in the same way. Cognitive deficits have been observed in cross-sectional studies of younger, middle-aged, and older adults with diabetes. Therefore, the conclusion could be that increasing age is not associated with a level or type of cognitive impairment in older people with diabetes.
Conclusion
Older people with type 2 diabetes are indeed more likely to have some cognitive impairment, compared to people without the illness. However, there are no rules or similar symptoms because such impairment is very complex, because of the complexity of associated cognitive processes. Conditions other than diabetes itself can also contribute to the cognitive impairment. These can be confused with the effect of diabetes.