Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are associated with accelerated brain aging, according to a new study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Diabetes care. The good news is that this can be counteracted by a healthy lifestyle.
Type 2 diabetes is a known risk factor for dementia, but it is unclear how diabetes and its early stages, known as prediabetes, affect brain aging in people without dementia. Now, extensive brain research shows that both diabetes and prediabetes may be linked to accelerated brain aging.
The study involved more than 31,000 people aged between 40 and 70 from the British Biobank who had undergone a brain MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). The researchers used a machine learning approach to estimate brain age in relation to the person’s chronological age.
Prediabetes and diabetes were associated with brains 0.5 and 2.3 years older than chronological age, respectively. In people with poorly controlled diabetes, the brains appeared more than four years older than chronological age. The researchers also noted that the gap between brain age and chronological age increased slightly over time in people with diabetes. These associations were weaker in people with high physical activity who abstained from smoking and heavy alcohol use.
Having an older-looking brain for one’s chronological age may indicate a deviation from the normal aging process and may be an early warning sign of dementia. On the plus side, it appears that people with diabetes can influence their brain health through healthy living.”
Abigail Dove, lead author of the study, PhD student at the Department of Neurobiology, Healthcare Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet
Repeat MRI data were available for a small proportion of study participants. Follow-up MRI scans are underway and researchers now continue to study the association between diabetes and brain aging over time.
“There is a high and growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the population,” says Abigail Dove. “We hope our research will help prevent cognitive impairment and dementia in people with diabetes and prediabetes.”
The research was mainly funded by the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation, the Dementia Research Fund, the Swedish Research Council and Forte (the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare).
Source:
Magazine reference:
Pigeon, A., et al. (2024) Diabetes, prediabetes and brain aging: the role of a healthy lifestyle. Diabetes care. doi.org/10.2337/dc24-0860.