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Does Diabetes Slow Alzheimer's?
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 A close look showed that the diabetic participants in the French study had Alzheimer's disease for a shorter period of time than the non-diabetics, said Dr. Robert Friedland, chair of neurology at the University of Louisville.
And the differences seen in the study "are very minimally significant, less than a point on a 30-point scale," Friedland said. "The difference in many of the mental state examination scores was very small. It was statistically significant, but clinically meaningless."
He ticked off several reasons why a difference was found. The medications taken for diabetes to help control blood sugar level could have a beneficial effect on the brain, Friedland said. "Also, patients with diabetes have more vascular disease in the heart as well as the retina, and some of their impairment might be due to that, so it was progressing more slowly," he said.
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There was also a possibility of misdiagnosis, since no autopsies were done in the study, Friedland said.
"The important message is that there are potentially modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, some of which are also risk factors for diabetes -- lack of physical activity, obesity," he said.
For Thies, the lesson of the study is that "to understand relationships like this, you need more long-term cohort studies like this one. We need more studies, and the real barrier is money."
More information
The latest information on Alzheimer's disease is available from the Alzheimer's Association.
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10/26/2009
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SOURCES: William Thies, Ph.D., chief medical and scientific officer, Alzheimer's Association, Chicago; Robert Friedland, M.D., chair, neurology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Ky.; Oct. 27, 2009, Neurology
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