Diabetes mellitus som risiskofaktor for demens

Abstract Background: Dementia and diabetes mellitus are two diseases which are increasing in both prevalence and incidence. There are many risk factors for development of dementia. The aim of this study is to examine the evidence for the relationship between diabetes mellitus and dementia, especially what kind of diabetes mellitus that is related to dementia, which type of dementia it is related to, the pathophysiology and if it s possible to prevent dementia by intervention of diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods: The included studies are systematic reviews and meta-analysis after search in McMasterPlus and Pubmed. Results: 15 systematic reviews and meta-analysis evaluated diabetes mellitus as risk factor for dementia, especially for Alzheimer s disease and vascular dementia. 11 of these concluded that diabetes mellitus is a risk factor, while four them concluded that there is no evidence yet for an association. Many studies have tried to explain the pathophysiology of this association. Some of the mentioned mechanisms are lesions in white matter, lacunar infarcts, cortical atrophy and the formation of advanced glycation end products, but it seems like these mechanisms still are hypothesis. All the included studies concluded that there s no evidence yet to prevent dementia by treating diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: The majority of the included studies concluded that there is evidence for that diabetes mellitus (type 2) is a risk factor for dementia, both Alzheimer s disease and vascular dementia. The mechanisms for this association are still unclear even though several hypotheses exist. There is so far no evidence that treatment of diabetes mellitus can prevent dementia