Diabetes Linked to Alzheimer'sHaving diabetes in middle age raises the odds of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65%, according to a new study focusing on a disturbing trend for an aging and overweight U.S. population.
Researchers found one of the strongest connections yet between diabetes--one of the fastest growing diseases in recent years--and Alzheimer's the disorder that threatens to overwhelm the health care system in years to come.
"Our confidence that diabetes is linked to
Alzheimer's is pretty strong," said Zoe Arvanitakis, lead author of the study and a neurologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Type 2 diabetes, accounting for about 95% of all diabetes cases is closely linked to obesity and is increasing dramatically in this country. An estimated 17 million Americans have type 2, including about 20% of those over 65. This malady is also a major risk factor for heart disease.
Additionally, 41 million people between the ages 40 and 74 have prediabetes, a serious condition in which blood glucose levels are abnormally high, according to the American Diabetes Association.
About 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's with the number growing on a yearly basis.
William Thies, vice president for medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association, notes that the new research is one of the fist long-term studies to follow people with no signs of Alzheimer's and track how diabetes affects their risk of getting the brain disease. "It's a powerful argument for doing everything you can to control your blood sugar," he warns.
The study published in the May 2004 issue of the Archives of Neurology, involved over 800 Catholic nuns, priests and brothers 55 and older from several states. They were given 19 different cognitive tests each year for up to 9 years.
Other studies, too, have suggested a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's. One such study last year linked insulin levels to beta amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and is considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's Another study found that those who do not process glucose efficiently and who were considered prediabetic were more likely to have memory problems. --adapted from the Riverside, Calif. Press-Enterprise.Suzanne