Researchers at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, Texas studied how the brain aging of people with type 1 diabetes affects them.
In their paper, titled “Patterns of Regional Brain Atrophy and Brain Aging in Middle- and Older-Aged Adults with Type 1 Diabetes,” published in the JAMA Network Open, the researchers demonstrated a link between type 1 diabetes and radiographic evidence of accelerated brain aging.
The 416 people with type 1 diabetes who participated in the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) observational study were evaluated along with 99 adults without diabetes of similar demographics. The median age (1–44) and duration of diabetes (74–30) for type 51 diabetes patients in EDIC were 60 and 37, respectively.
Trace-making section B, fluted pegboard assessment, number symbol swapping test, and cognitive assessments of verbal fluency were used to assess psychomotor and mental activity. Wechsler logical memory subtest and Wechsler digit symbol swapping test were used to calculate memory scores.
Lower psychomotor and mental efficiency among EDIC participants was associated with older brains, as measured by cognitive testing, but not among controls. The findings point to a brain aging of about six years.
Calculation of brain age and measurement of Alzheimer's disease-like atrophy were done using MRI scans and a machine learning program. Regional shrinkage similar to that seen in Alzheimer's disease was comparable between groups and was not specifically linked to either. Other regions, especially the bilateral thalamus and putamen, showed shrinkage in EDIC patients.
The results of this study show an increase in brain aging in people with type 1 diabetes who do not yet show early signs of AD-induced neurodegeneration. The authors note that although these increases were associated with decreased cognitive function, the abnormal patterns seen in the groups were only mildly abnormal.
Source: medicalxpress.com/news
📩 12/06/2023 13:25