Long-term type 1 diabetes is linked to premature aging of the brain, according to study findings JAMA Network open Published on the 1st.
Mohamad Habes’ team at the University of Texas evaluated 416 adults with type 1 diabetes and 99 non-diabetic controls who had participated in a previous observational study, Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC).
EDIC participants with type 1 diabetes had a median age of 60 years (44–74) and a median duration of diabetes of 37 years (30–51 years).
Psychomotor and mental efficiency were evaluated using a cognitive test of verbal fluency, number sign substitution test, tracing line part B, and groove pegboard assessment.
Memory scores were derived from the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale and the Wechsler Numerical Symbol Substitution Test.
Increased brain age, determined by cognitive tests, was found to be associated with lower psychomotor and mental efficiency in EDIC participants, but not in controls.
The results suggest that brain aging has increased by around six years, the research team explained.
MRI scans and machine learning programs have been used to calculate the age of the brain and measure Alzheimer’s disease, such as atrophy.
Focal Alzheimer’s disease-like atrophy was comparable between groups and there was no clear association between the two groups.
Other regions of atrophy were seen in EDIC participants, mainly in the bilateral thalamus and dura mater.
“The results of this study showed an increase in brain aging among patients with type 1 diabetes who did not have early signs of Alzheimer’s-related neurodegeneration. Although this increase was associated with a decrease in cognitive performance, the abnormal patterns observed in the sample were modest, even after an average of 38 years with type 1 diabetes,” he wrote.
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