Diabetes, Prediabetes Tied to Accelerated Brain Aging

TUESDAY, Sept. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Diabetes and prediabetes are associated with accelerated brain aging and potential dementia, according to a study published online Aug. 28 in Diabetes Care.

Abigail Dove, from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues investigated the association between (pre)diabetes and older brain age. The analysis included 31,229 dementia-free adults (aged 40 to 70 years) identified from the U.K. Biobank.

The researchers found that 43.3 percent of participants had prediabetes, and 3.7 percent had diabetes. There were associations for both prediabetes (β = 0.22) and diabetes (β = 2.01) with a significantly higher brain age gap. Diabetes was further associated with a significant increase in brain age gap over time (β = 0.27). In men and in people with two or more cardiometabolic risk factors, the association between (pre)diabetes and a higher brain age gap was more pronounced. Having a healthy lifestyle (e.g., no smoking, no heavy drinking, and high physical activity) significantly attenuated the association between diabetes and brain age gap.

“Having an older-appearing brain for one’s chronological age can indicate deviation from the normal aging process and may constitute an early warning sign for dementia,” Dove said in a statement. “On the positive side, it seems that people with diabetes may be able to influence their brain health through healthy living.”

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