Prediabetes and Dementia

Prediabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are elevated but not high enough to be identified as diabetes.   More than 98 million Americans have prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), yet the majority are unaware of it.   Prediabetes raises one's chances of acquiring type 2 diabetes, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke.  Furthermore, prediabetes can harm your brain function and raise your chance of dementia.

Dementia is a broad term describing a deterioration in cognitive processes that interferes with daily living, such as remembering, thinking, and reasoning.   The most frequent cause of dementia, accounting for 60% to 80% of cases, is Alzheimer's disease.  Vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and mixed dementia are some of the other causes. Dementia affects around 50 million people globally, with that figure estimated to climb to 152 million by 2050.

One study has shown that prediabetes is associated with dementia risk. Researchers indicated that that there was a significant longitudinal association between increased levels of HbA_1c "long-term cognitive decline." Another study showed that "Prediabetes can also increase the risk of dementia because it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases."

The good news is that by making simple lifestyle changes, including losing weight, eating a nutritious diet, exercising frequently, and stopping smoking, prediabetes can be corrected or prevented from advancing to diabetes. These healthy changes may also reduce the risk of dementia. Hence, it is critical to get tested for prediabetes and take action to avoid the negative implications of more harmful conditions such as diabetes and dementia.

Therefore, physicians and other healthcare clinicians should make screening for prediabetes an integral part of periodic patient examinations. Not only will the examinations help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes, but the examinations might lower the risk of dementia.

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