April - 21 - 2009
Severe hypoglycemia in older patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with a greater risk of dementia, new research suggests. The study team conducted a longitudinal cohort study from 1980 to 2007 on 16,667 patients with type 2 diabetes and an average age of 65 years. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, San Francisco, reviewed the patients' hypoglycemic events from 1980 to 2002, using hospital discharge and emergency department diagnoses. Using Cox proportional hazard regression models, the team examined the dementia risk of the cohort members who had no prior diagnoses of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or general memory complaints as of Jan. 1, 2003, following them for four years. Compared with patients who had no hypoglycemia, the researchers found that patients who experienced hypoglycemic episodes increased their risk of dementia for each episode. It is still unknown if minor hypoglycemic episodes increase the risk of dementia, however.
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Journal of the American Medical Association (04/15/09) Vol. 301, No. 15, P. 1565; Whitmer, Rachel A.; Karter, Andrew J.; Yaffe, Kristine