Deepening Connections Between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s
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Existing diabetes therapies may help fight Alzheimer’s
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that links diabetes with Alzheimer’s, and which may enable already approved diabetes therapies to be quickly tested for effectiveness against the deadly brain disease. New data from drug trials and long-term population studies were reported this week in Madrid at the 10th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (ICAD), presented by the Alzheimer’s Association.
“A connection between Alzheimer’s and diabetes has major public health implications,” said Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., vice chair of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Medical & Scientific Advisory Council.
“The number of people with Alzheimer’s, and the number that will soon get it, is rising dramatically as the Baby Boomers turn 60, which is approaching the age of highest risk. Will this growth be redoubled by the rising tide of obesity and diabetes?”
Nearly one-third of American adults – perhaps as many as 73 million people – have diabetes or higher than normal blood sugar levels, according to a study from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases that was published in the June 2006 issue of Diabetes Care.
“At the same time, drugs and other treatment strategies – such as changes in diet and exercise – already developed for diabetes may prove useful in Alzheimer’s, and, if so, then we’ll have decades of diabetes research and real life experience to bring to the effort to better treat and prevent Alzheimer’s,” Petersen said.
Borderline diabetes linked with increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s

Previous studies have consistently shown an association between diabetes and dementia, and the adverse impact of early stage diabetes on cognitive functions. Weili Xu, M.D., and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Sweden, sought to examine the effects of borderline diabetes on the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
For nine years, the investigators followed 1,173 individuals age 75 years and older who were free of dementia and diabetes at baseline; borderline diabetes was identified in 47 subjects. About one in three (397) of the subjects developed dementia during the follow-up, including 307 subjects who developed Alzheimer’s.
After controlling for other major vascular factors, borderline diabetes was associated with an almost 70 percent increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in this population. Further analysis suggested that such a significant association was present only among non-carriers of APOE e4 allele, a gene that increases risk for the most common form of Alzheimer’s. The risk for Alzheimer’s was especially high when borderline diabetes occurred with severe systolic hypertension (=180 mm Hg).
“Our findings have significant implications for public health because some studies show that impaired glucose regulation can be improved by lifestyle changes,” Xu said. “Our findings also highlight the need to detect borderline diabetes in order to proactively address both type 2 diabetes and dementia.”