Type 2 diabetes has been consistently associated with an increased risk of dementia. The association of dementia risk and the age at onset of type 2 diabetes still remains unknown. A recent study published at ‘JAMA Network’ revealed that younger age at onset of diabetes was significantly associated with a higher risk of subsequent dementia.

    The longitudinal cohort study was conducted among 10095 participants (67.3% men; aged 35-55 years). A total of 1710 cases of diabetes and 639 cases of dementia were recorded over a median follow-up of 31.7 years. Dementia rates per 1000 person-years were 8.9 in participants without diabetes at age 70 years, and rates were 10.0 per 1000 person-years for participants with diabetes onset up to 5 years earlier, 13.0 for 6 to 10 years earlier, and 18.3 for more than 10 years earlier.

At age 70, every 5-year younger age at onset of type 2 diabetes was significantly associated with an increased risk of dementia when adjusted for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and health-related measures.

The researchers came up with the concluding remark that younger age at onset of diabetes was significantly associated with a higher risk of succeeding dementia.