A study using brain scans found that diabetes can age the brain by up to four years, but lifestyle changes may thwart neurological aging, a new study shows.
The report was published Wednesday in Diabetes Care.
“Having an older-appearing brain for one’s chronological age can indicate deviation from the normal aging process and may constitute an early warning sign for dementia,” Abigail Dove, the lead author and a graduate student of neurobiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said in a statement.
“On the positive side, it seems that people with diabetes may be able to influence their brain health through healthy living,” Dove added.
Researchers evaluated the MRI scans from over 31,000 dementia-free adults between 40 and 70 years old. Data came from the UK Biobank, a British database.
The team measured the “brain age” for each person using artificial intelligence over an 11-year span, giving each person in the study up to two scans during that time. To derive the brain age, researchers used details on each person’s glycemic status, medical history and medication use, as well as data on cardiometabolic risk factors such as obesity and hypertension, and lifestyle behaviors like smoking and physical activity.
People who were prediabetic (43.3% of participants) had an average brain age that was half a year older than their chronological age, while those who had diabetes had a brain age an average of 2.3 years older than their chronological age. Those with diabetes that was poorly controlled had a brain age that was, on average, four years older.
People who were physically active and didn’t smoke or drink heavily were less likely to have advanced brain aging, the data showed.
“There’s a high and growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the population,” Dove said. “We hope that our research will help prevent cognitive impairment and dementia in people with diabetes and prediabetes.”
