A research collaboration involving the University of Arizona has found that the use of an older class of type 2 diabetes drugs, known as glitazones or thiazolidinediones (TZDs), is associated with a 22% reduced risk of dementia.
This study suggests that these drugs might help prevent dementia in patients at high risk due to mild or moderate type 2 diabetes.
Similarities Between Diabetes and Dementia
Given the physiological similarities between type 2 diabetes and dementia, researchers are interested in whether diabetes drugs might also help prevent or treat dementia.
Methodology
In this particular study, the team compared dementia risk in older people with type 2 diabetes who were treated with either a sulfonylurea or a TZD, against those treated with metformin alone.
They used electronic health records from the national Veteran Affairs (VA) Health System from January 2000 to December 2019, involving 559,106 people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Only older patients (aged 60 or more) who were given a first prescription of metformin, a sulfonylurea (tolbutamide, glimepiride, glipizide, or glyburide), or a TZD (rosiglitazone or pioglitazone) between January 2001 and December 2017 were included in the study.
These patients’ health was tracked for an average of nearly eight years.
Findings
The researchers discovered that after at least a year of drug treatment, the use of a TZD alone was associated with a 22% lower risk of any cause of dementia compared to the use of metformin alone.
Specifically, TZD use was linked to an 11% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a 57% lower risk of vascular dementia.
The risk of dementia was found to be 11% lower when metformin and TZD were used in combination, but it was 12% higher for the use of a sulfonylurea drug alone.
The researchers, therefore, suggest that supplementing a sulfonylurea with either metformin or a TZD may partially offset these effects.
Patients younger than 75 and those who were overweight or obese seemed to benefit more from a TZD, suggesting the importance of early prevention of dementia.
What’s Next?
The researchers proposed that future studies aimed at repurposing diabetes drugs for dementia prevention should consider prioritizing TZDs based on their findings.
If you’re interested in dementia prevention, you might want to look into studies on how the Mediterranean diet could boost brain health and how Vitamin B supplements could help reduce dementia risk.
For more information about brain health, you may want to read recent studies on how cranberries could enhance memory and how the intake of alcohol, coffee, and tea influences cognitive decline.
This research was published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care and conducted by Xin Tang and colleagues.
If you care about dementia, please read studies about low choline intake linked to higher dementia risk, and how eating nuts can affect your cognitive ability.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that blueberry supplements may prevent cognitive decline, and results showing higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.
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