Researchers Create Dementia Risk Scale for People with Type 2 Diabetes

As we look at the epidemic of dementia, one of the related diagnoses that has come to the forefront as an important area to study is diabetes. Approximately half of people with type 2 diabetes (typically adult onset, although some children are now also being diagnosed with type 2) will go on to develop dementia as they age. This also means, of course, that half do not. What makes the difference? What are the risk factors that make someone with type 2 diabetes more likely to develop dementia? A group of researchers considered this question and, and after reviewing the health histories of almost 30,000 people over the age of 60 who had diabetes type 2, they came up with a risk scale that predicts how likely a person with diabetes is to develop dementia over the next ten years. Published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology on August 20, 2013, this study is the first known that develops a scale of this nature. According to the article, the risk factors that are included in the scale include the following: age education microvascular disease diabetic foot cerebrovascular disease cardiovascular disease acute metabolic event depression These terms were defined as to which diagnoses and health events would constitute the occurrence of that risk factor, assigned point values and then added together for each person. The end result was a number value that corresponds to a percent of predicted 10-year risk of dementia. The scoring ranges from a 5% chance all the way up ...
Source: About Alzheimers Disease - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news