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Written By: Admin | Updated : June 12, 2013 9:16 AM IST
San Francisco, June 11 (IANS): Scientists have shown that low blood pressure caused by diabetes can increase the risk of developing dementia, a study says. The study, published online Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, also says that dementia or even milder forms of cognitive impairment may increase the risk of experiencing low blood sugar, reports Science Daily. Researchers analysed data from 783 diabetic participants and found that hospitalisation for severe hypoglycaemia among the diabetic and elderly participants in the study was associated with a doubled risk of developing dementia.
Similarly, study participants with dementia were twice as likely to experience a severe hypoglycaemic event. The study results suggest some patients risk entering a downward spiral in which hypoglycaemia and cognitive impairment fuel one another, leading to worse health, said Kristine Yaffe, senior author and principal investigator for the study. 'Older patients with diabetes may be especially vulnerable to a vicious cycle in which poor diabetes management may lead to cognitive decline and then to even worse diabetes management,' said Yaffe, a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a metabolic disease which is characterised by high blood sugar levels. It can be caused either due to the lack of insulin (type 1 diabetes) or because the body's cells fail to respond to the insulin produced (type 2 diabetes). Some of the common symptoms of diabetes are hunger, frequent urination and increased thirst. While type 1 diabetes is usually genetic, type 2 diabetes is caused more by lifestyle factors. It is one of the common 'lifestyle diseases' which is plaguing people in the developed countries and often has a causal link to heart diseases, hypertension and obesity.
