A recently published Korean study suggests that individuals with type 2 diabetes who’re prescribed a particular class of medication could also be in significantly worse shape lower risk of dementia.
Researchers compared the health outcomes of greater than 110,000 people aged 40 to 69 with type 2 diabetes who were prescribed a drug called SGLT-2 inhibitors with those of one other 110,000 patients taking a distinct class of medication, DPP-4 inhibitors. They followed the participants for a mean of 670 days.
The researchers found that after adjusting for potential confounding aspects, people taking SGLT-2 inhibitors had a 35% lower risk of developing dementia.
Diabetes is taken into account to be risk factor for dementia. So it’s not entirely surprising that treating diabetes can reduce the risk of dementia. But why would one drug reduce the risk greater than one other? And how are diabetes and dementia even related?
Diabetes and dementia
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. Its job is to move glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream into cells, where it serves as an energy source. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas fails to supply adequate amounts of insulin, otherwise our cells will develop insulin resistance.
Dementia is attributable to changes in the brain and includes: several conditions which affect memory, considering, mood and our ability to perform on a regular basis tasks.
Diabetes has long been recognized as a risk factor for each Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementiatwo most typical types of dementia. Both are characterised by a decline in cognitive function attributable to disease of the blood vessels in the brain.
We don’t fully understand why diabetes and dementia are linked in this fashion, but there are some clues that will explain it. several possible reasons.
For example, diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, which damage the heart and blood vessels. When blood vessels in the brain are damaged, it could possibly contribute to cognitive decline.
Additionally, high blood sugar levels cause inflammation, which may damage brain cells and contribute to the development of dementia.
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Treating diabetes will help reduce the increased risk
Better blood sugar control in individuals with diabetes helps protect blood vessels and reduces inflammation in the brain.
Diabetes can initially be controlled with lifestyle changes similar to weight loss program and exercise, but treatment may include medications, similar to those taken by the study participants. Korean Studies.
Patients taking each varieties of drugs had comparable control of their blood glucose levels. But why did one reduce the risk of developing dementia compared with the other?
SGLT-2 (sodium glucose transport protein 2) inhibitors lower blood glucose levels by increasing the removal of glucose by the kidneys. These drugs are known to have positive effects also in other facets of health, including improving blood pressure, supporting weight reduction, and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress (a sort of damage to our cells).
Obesity AND hypertension themselves are risk aspects for vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s dementia, so it could be that these effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors reduce the risk of dementia to a greater extent than can be expected based on higher blood glucose control alone.
Prevention vs. Cure
It is significant to emphasise that the good thing about a drug reducing the risk of developing a disease is totally separate from any suggestion that the drug may be useful in treating the disease. The best method to reduce the risk of lung cancer, for instance, is to give up smoking. However, once you could have lung cancer, quitting smoking just isn’t enough to cure it.
That said, due to the evidence linking diabetes and dementia, some diabetes medications have been previously studied as treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. And they’ve been shown to supply a point of profit for knowledge.
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Semaglutide, higher known by its trade name Ozempic, belongs to a different class of diabetes drugs (called GLP1 receptor agonists). Semaglutide is currently being studied as a treatment for early Alzheimer’s disease in two clinical trials involving over 3500 patients.
These studies were inspired by observations made during clinical trials of semaglutide in individuals with diabetes, which showed lower rates of dementia in people taking the drug in comparison with those taking a placebo.
Like SGLT-2 drugs, GLP-1 class drugs are known to scale back encephalitisGLP-1 drugs also appear to scale back chemical reactions that result in the formation of an abnormal type of a protein called Tau, one among the pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease.
What’s next?
As our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia continues to expand, there will even be advances in treatments.
It is unlikely that a single drug is the answer to Alzheimer’s disease. Cancer treatment has advanced to the point where the use of “drug cocktails” or combination of medicationis already routine.
One possible future for these diabetes drugs is that we could see them as a part of a variety of therapies that combat the ravages of dementia or, even higher, help prevent it, even in people without diabetes. But we want more research before we get to that time.
