Reducing Your Risk of Dementia Linked to Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes

Following estimates published in February 2017 in the journal Population Health Management, the rate of diabetes is expected to jump to 54% between 2015 and 2030. While there is also a genetic component involved in the onset of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, science is emerging and supports that lifestyle factors may play a critical role in the risk for type 2 diabetes and its precursor, prediabetes.

More and more people are being diagnosed with this condition, and now that we know that this chronic disease is driven by high blood sugar, we also know that there is an increased risk of cognitive decline.

People diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before age 60 are three times more likely to develop dementia later in life than people without diabetes, a study published May 24, 2023 in Diabetologia journal.

Study findings on link between type 2 diabetes and dementia

Prediabetes means that your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. If you have been diagnosed with prediabetes, American Diabetes Association (ADA) confirms that a healthy lifestyle can cut the risk of type 2 diabetes in half. Untreated, type 2 diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, memory loss, kidney disease and dementia, writes Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

What you can do to reduce your risk of dementia, even if you have a family history

For this study, scientists wanted to find out more about how age may affect the risk of chronic diseases associated with diabetes. The researchers analyzed data from 11,656 participants who did not have type 2 diabetes at the start of the study. About 20% of them had prediabetes. Each participant had to take cognitive tests during the three decades that the study lasted.

Participants who transitioned from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes had a higher risk of dementia, the scientists found. Thus, participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier than age 60 were three times more likely to later be diagnosed with dementia.

For example, participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between the ages of 60 and 69 had a 73% increased risk, and those diagnosed between the ages of 70 and 79 had a 23% risk of developing dementia compared to participants diagnosed before 60 years, with a 300% risk.