[Association between diabetes mellitus and cognitive decline in older adults. A population based study]

The association between diabetes and cognitive decline is already known; however, there is not much literature that document if this association is different according to gender. The aim of this study was to determine this relationship and to establish if there is a difference according to gender in older adults of Mérida, Yucatán, México.

1293 older than sixty years old individuals without severe depression, history of psychiatric disease or stroke were included in the study. A structured survey was applied to them, including mini-mental state examination, anthropometry, capillary glucose and lipid measurements. These parameters were compared between diabetic and non-diabetic patients. The association between diabetes and cognitive decline was determined first to general population and then in each sex with logistic regression.

Prevalence of diabetes was 27.38 %. Diabetic patients were younger (p = 0.049), with less years of formal education (p = 0.014) and with a larger waist circumference (p = 0.004) than non-diabetics. Diabetes was associated to a greater frequency of cognitive decline only in women (ß = 2.897, IC 95 % 1.428-5.877, p = 0.003).

There is an association between diabetes and cognitive decline in women older than 60 years of age. However, there is a need of longitudinal studies that confirm these findings.