Diabetes Mellitus And Depression As Risk Factors For Dementia: Sadem Study

Aim: 3Evidence indicates that the comorbidity of dementia with diabetes and depression may affect most cognitive functions. Our chief interest was to examine the patterns of cognitive functioning in individuals diagnosed with dementia, diabetes, and depression as compared with dementia plus diabetes (DDM), or dementia plus depression (DD) and healthy controls.Methods: We included 207 participants with dementia (age 60+), 83 with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 66 vascular dementia (VaD), and 58 mixed dementia (AD/VaD). The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for global neuropsychological assessment, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for symptoms of depression. Diabetes was confirmed by medical diagnosis.Results: Analysis showed differences in cognitive functioning among the groups with statistical significance. Notably, there was greater cognitive dysfunction in patients with diagnosis of dementia and depression than in controls, but the difference was reduced in patients with comorbid dementia diabetes. Subsequent comparisons indicated that vascular dementia with comorbid depression and diabetes presents significantly inferior cognitive performance than those with dementia alone or the control group.Conclusions: These results suggest that dementia, when combined with depression or diabetes, adversely affects cognitive performance. These findings highlight the importance of identifying depression among diabetics and patients with dementia.