Diabetes Accelerates Alzheimer's Disease Progression in the First Year Post Mild Cognitive Impairment Diagnosis

Overview

Journal Alzheimers Dement

Specialties Neurology
Psychiatry

Date 2024 Jun 12

PMID 38865281

Authors

Xiahao Ding

Li Yin

Lin Zhang

Yang Zhang

Tianming Zha

Wen Zhang

Bo Gui

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) heightens Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk, with diabetes mellitus (DM) potentially exacerbating this vulnerability. This study identifies the optimal intervention period and neurobiological targets in MCI to AD progression using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset.

Methods: Analysis of 980 MCI patients, categorized by DM status, used propensity score matching and inverse probability treatment weighting to assess rate of conversion from MCI to AD, neuroimaging, and cognitive changes.

Results: DM significantly correlates with cognitive decline and an increased risk of progressing to AD, especially within the first year of MCI follow-up. It adversely affects specific brain structures, notably accelerating nucleus accumbens atrophy, decreasing gray matter volume and sulcal depth.

Discussion: Findings suggest the first year after MCI diagnosis as the critical window for intervention. DM accelerates MCI-to-AD progression, targeting specific brain areas, underscoring the need for early therapeutic intervention.

Highlights: Diabetes mellitus (DM) accelerates mild cognitive impairment (MCI)-to-Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression within the first year after MCI diagnosis. DM leads to sharper cognitive decline within 12 months of follow-up. There is notable nucleus accumbens atrophy observed in MCI patients with DM. DM causes significant reductions in gray matter volume and sulcal depth. There are stronger correlations between cognitive decline and brain changes due to DM.

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