The Presence of Dementia as one of Diabetic Complications: Hyperglycemia, Hypoglycemia and Glycemic Fluctuation are Associated with the Development of Dementia

The number of subjects with dementia has been increasing all over the world which has become one of the serious social issues. Mainly, there are two types of dementia; one type is Alzheimer’s disease and another type is vascular dementia. Such dementia is often complicated in elderly subjects with diabetes and thereby it is thought that dementia is one of diabetic complications. There are many possible explanation about the mechanism by which dementia is easily induced in subjects with diabetes. Chronic hyperglycemia and repeated hypoglycemia are closely associated with the onset and/or development of dementia. In addition, the fluctuation of blood glucose level per se is also associated with dementia. In this review article, we would like to describe the current status of dementia and association between dementia and diabetes.