Premium
Can active life mitigate the impact of diabetes on dementia and brain aging?
Author(s) -
Marseglia Anna,
DarinMattsson Alexander,
Kalpouzos Grégoria,
Grande Giulia,
Fratiglioni Laura,
Dekhtyar Serhiy,
Xu Weili
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.12142
Subject(s) - dementia , diabetes mellitus , medicine , hazard ratio , brain size , gerontology , confidence interval , endocrinology , disease , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology
We investigated whether lifelong exposure to stimulating activities (active life, AL) mitigates diabetes‐associated dementia risk and brain aging. Methods In the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care‐Kungsholmen, 2286 dementia‐free older adults (407 with MRI volumetric measures) were followed over 12 years to detect incident dementia. AL index (low, moderate, high) combined education, work complexity, leisure activities, and social network. Results Participants with diabetes and low AL had higher dementia risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–3.87) than patients who were diabetes‐free with moderate‐to‐high AL (reference). Dementia risk in participants with diabetes and moderate‐to‐high AL did not differ from the reference. People with diabetes and low AL had the smallest brain volume, but those with diabetes and moderate‐to‐high AL exhibited total brain and gray‐matter volumes that were similar to those of diabetes‐free participants. AL did not modify the diabetes microvascular lesions association. Discussion AL could mitigate the deleterious impact of diabetes on dementia, potentially by limiting the loss of brain tissue volume.