Younger Age at Diabetes Diagnosis Tied to Higher Risk for Later Dementia
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 26, 2024 -- Younger age at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is significantly associated with a higher risk for subsequent dementia, according to a study published online Nov. 13 in PLOS ONE.
Xiang Qi, Ph.D., R.N., from the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University in New York City, and colleagues used data from the Health and Retirement Study (2002 to 2016) matched to the 2003 Diabetes Mail-Out Survey to investigate the association between age at type 2 diabetes diagnosis and subsequent dementia risk. The analysis included 1,213 dementia-free adults aged 50 years and older with diagnosed type 2 diabetes.
The researchers found that during a median follow-up of 10 years, participants diagnosed at younger ages had increased dementia risk (hazard ratio [HR], 1.70 for 60 to 69 years; HR, 1.72 for 50 to 59 years; and HR, 1.90 for younger than 50 years) compared with participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age 70 years and older. This relationship was significantly moderated by obesity, with individuals with obesity diagnosed with diabetes at younger than 50 years having the highest dementia risk (HR, 3.05) compared with individuals without obesity diagnosed at 50 years and older.
"Future studies are needed to address the complexity of [the] type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dementia relationship," the authors write. "Interventions specifically targeting obesity may be more effective in preventing dementia for adults with younger age at diagnoses of type 2 diabetes mellitus."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted November 2024
Read this next
Doctors' Preferences for Their Own End-of-Life Care? No Life-Sustaining Practices
FRIDAY, June 13, 2025 -- Many physicians would personally prefer to avoid life-sustaining practices if they had advanced cancer or Alzheimer disease, according to a study...
Few Adolescents With Obesity Prescribed Obesity Medications
FRIDAY, June 13, 2025 -- Despite an increase in the prevalence of prescribing, only 0.5 percent of U.S. adolescents with obesity were prescribed an obesity medication in 2023...
Shorter Leukocyte Telomere Length Linked to Higher Incidence of Age-Related Brain Diseases
THURSDAY, June 12, 2025 -- Individuals with shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) have a higher incidence of stroke, dementia, and late-life depression (LLD), individually and...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.