Dementia and Diabetes

Increased longevity due to the advancement of therapeutics is leading to an increase in age-related disorders, especially dementia.Of the many determinants of dementia, diabetes mellitus (DM) appears to play an important role.Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) increases the risk of dementia, including both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia.Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) also appears to increase dementia risk.Patterns of cognitive impairment and neuroimaging features in diabetes have been described.Although the exact mechanism of interaction is not yet established, however, various pathophysiological processes have been postulated linking diabetes with dementia, which include brain insulin resistance, the effect of diabetes on amyloid and tau pathogenesis, inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, macro-and microvascular diseases, etc.Recently, the role of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) has been highlighted.Establishing the key links between diabetes and dementia is important, as research is already ongoing regarding the potential of antidiabetic medications in the treatment of dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease.