Mon May 17,2004

Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People with diabetes could have a higher risk of brain-wasting Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), a U.S. study said on Monday.

 

Among those in the study with diabetes, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease was 65 percent greater than those without diabetes.

Of 824 elderly Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers participating in the study, 151 developed Alzheimer's disease, according to the study in The Archives of Neurology. Thirty-one of those who developed the disease had diabetes.

Participants with diabetes also had lower levels of cognition and greater memory problems, said researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Diabetes, also linked to obesity and other ailments, causes the blood levels of glucose to become abnormally high.

"This is another piece of evidence that watching your key health numbers -- blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight -- is critical to maintaining your brain," William Thies, vice president of the Alzheimer's Association, said in a news release.

Further research should show whether treatments for diabetes may play a role in lowering the risk for Alzheimer's disease, Neil Buckholz, head of the Dementias of Aging Branch in the U.S. National Institute of Aging's neurosciences program, said.

Diabetes affects about 20 percent of people over age 65 and is known to be associated with heart disease, kidney failure and impaired cognitive function.