Evaluation of cognitive function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Comparison with age-matched controls: A prospective study

Abstract

Introduction: A relative deficiency in insulin production, chronic hyperglycemia, abnormalities in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance are all the symptoms of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The brain is one of many organ systems that is negatively impacted, increasing the likelihood of cognitive decline. Aim: Evaluation of cognitive functions in patients with T2DM and comparison with aged-matched controls. Methodology: Fifty T2DM patients as well as 50 age-matched controls were subjected to Adden Brooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE-III). The examination assesses attention, orientation, memory, language, fluency, visual perception, and visuospatial skills. It comprises tests of memory (7-item analysis), letter fluency, clock drawing, and memory recall. The optimal ACE-III cutoff scores to detect mild cognitive impairment and dementia are 88/89 (sensitivity 0.77 and specificity 0.92) and 75/76 (sensitivity 0.82 and specificity 0.90), respectively. The comparison of scores of patients and controls was done using the appropriate statistical tests (SPSS version 25). Statistical Analysis Used: Unpaired t-test, Chi-square test, and Pearson correlation coefficient test. Results: The mean ± standard deviation ACE-III scores of T2DM patients and controls were 81.48 ± 12.426 and 86.2 ± 10.447, respectively; the difference between them was not statistically significant. There was a decrease in attention, memory, fluency, and visuospatial ability in cases as compared to controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. Dementia was observed in 30% of cases and 20% of controls. Mild cognitive impairment was similar in both groups. Weak association was seen between the number of drugs prescribed and duration of disease with ACE-III scores. Conclusion: We find a negative association of cognitive function and T2DM.