Mental Health

Type 2 Diabetes Increases Risk Of Dementia

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 31, 2015 09:32 AM EST

Those who suffer Type 2 diabetes also face increased risk of dementia, according to scienceworldreport.

Scientists at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, discovered that "vascular dementia", which affects the flow of blood to the brain, tends to strike female diabetic patients more than men.

"In Alzheimer's disease, nerve cells throughout the brain die off, and abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain for reasons not entirely known," said Rachel Huxley of Curtin University in Perth, Australia. "Vascular dementia, in contrast, is the result of impaired blood flow to the brain, usually by a series of small, imperceptible strokes."

Scientists looked at 14 studies involving more than 2 million, which included more than 100,000 who had dementia. Diabetes seemed to be linked with a 60 percent increased risk of dementia in both the genders.

Scientists also found that female patients of diabetes exhibited a 19 percent higher risk of developing vascular dementia.

"These findings add to the evidence that diabetes confers a greater vascular hazard in women compared with men. Diabetes confers a greater risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and now vascular dementia in women compared with men," Rachel explained.

The results were published in the Diabetes Care journal of the American Diabetes Association.

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