Study finds rise in dementia risk for diabetics

A new study by scientists in the United States has claimed that patients with type 2 diabetes that also have problems with depression face an increased risk of dementia.
The research, which involved over 19,000 diabetics in California between the ages of 30 and 75, showed that type 2 diabetes patients have about double the chance of developing dementia after about three to five years after diagnosis of depression as compared with diabetics who do not suffer from the condition.
It was also found that each of diabetes and depression could independently increase the risk for developing the other. Despite these findings, the report, which was published in Archives of General Psychiatry, does say that the overall risk of dementia for people with diabetes and depression is low, at only about one in 50.
Wayne Katon from the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, who led the study, commented “We’ve known for years that diabetes is a risk factor for dementia. In fact, having diabetes itself probably doubles the risk for dementia.”
He added “We’ve also known that a very common accompanying condition with diabetes is depression. Some 20 percent of diabetics have depression. And now our data suggests that if you do have depression in addition to diabetes, it actually doubles again the already increased risk for dementia that diabetic patients face.”