A cross-sectional study of cognitive dysfunctions in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia that affects various body systems. For this progressive, incurable condition, the best scenario after diagnosis is good metabolic control and risk factor management to forestall vascular and neuropathic complications. People with diabetes often develop diverse microvascular, macrovascular, and neuropathic complications that erode the quality of life, making diabetes a major concern for much of the developed and developing world.Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional, comparative study. Subjects for the study were selected from the in-patient admissions made under various specialties at the Department of Psychiatry, Midnapore Medical College. Resi-Monirampore, Barrackpore, Kolkata. After obtaining institutional ethical committee clearance and informed consent from the patients, 60 patients who were diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes and 60 non-diabetic controls, matched to age, gender, education, and socio-economic status, were chosen by convenience sampling. The control group was selected from relatives of the patients admitted under various specialties.Results: A total of 120 subjects comprising 60 patients diagnosed as having type 2 DM and 60 non-diabetic controls were included in the study. There is no significant difference between the age of the control group and cases. There was a significant difference between the mean BMI value of the controls and cases (p=0.012 < 0.05). Results indicated that diabetics were significantly overweight with respect to their non-diabetic counterparts. As expected, there was a very high significant difference between random blood sugar values between the two groups. Conclusion: The genesis and pattern of cognitive deficits in the diabetic population are complex. However, it appears from this study that such deficits do exist and are associated with advancing age, longer duration of poorly controlled diabetes, higher HbA1cvalues, and the combined use of Insulin and Oral Hypoglycaemic Agents rather than OHA alone. Further studies which evaluate other aspects of cognitive functions such as vasomotor coordination, psychomotor speed, motor persistence, and mental flexibility, which are likely to be affected earlier than the cognitive impairments captured in this study, are required. Even modest reductions in cognitive function result in substantially increased risks of dementia over several years. Hence, prevention and control of type 2 diabetes have critical public health consequences.