Diabetes May Lead to Precursor of Alzheimer's

Diabetes could contribute to plaque build-up in the brain, with such a build-up a hallmark of Alzheimer's, the study authors said.

But, they added, more research is needed.

"Studies are needed to see if preventing diabetes prevents cognitive impairment and how diabetes treatment affects cognition," Luchsinger said. "We also need to see how cognitive impairment in persons with diabetes affects their ability to follow their treatment, which is usually complex and involves several medications."

Other experts applauded even the tentative findings.

This type of research may help target populations who could one day benefit from drugs, said Maria Carrillo, director of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association.

"This supports the idea that risk factors are real," Carrillo added. "The field has now matured to a point where we can start looking at earlier and earlier aspects of the disease. It makes sense to look even earlier than that and try to tease out what the risk factors look like in that population, in case we have a disease-modifying drug coming up in near future."

"This is documenting what we know a little bit better and emphasizing that patients should control their blood sugar as well as they can early in the disease," added Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "This is another piece of information, more wood to the fire."

More information

The Alzheimer's Association has more on mild cognitive impairment.

SOURCES: Jose A. Luchsinger, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, Columbia University, New York City; Larry Deeb, M.D., president, medicine and science, American Diabetes Association, Chicago; Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., director, medical and scientific relations, Alzheimer's Association; Joel Zonszein, M.D., director, Clinical Diabetes Center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; April 2007,Archives of Neurology