From the Literature: Type 2 Diabetes
Review highlights from three recent studies looking at type 2 diabetes and sexuality, type 2 diabetes-cognition associations, and neuropathologies.
//eAbstracts
Sexuality Among Middle Age and Older Adults with Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Diabetes
Journal: Diabetes Care (August 27, 2010)
Authors: Lindau S, Tang H, Gomero A, et al
Purpose: To “describe sexual activity, behavior, and problems among middle-age and older adults by diabetes status.”
Results: More than “60% of partnered people with diagnosed diabetes were sexually active.” Women with diabetes were less likely than diabetic men and other women to be sexually active, and “were less likely to have discussed sex with a physician (11%) than women with diagnosed diabetes (19%), and men with undiagnosed (28%) or diagnosed (47%) diabetes.” Though “the prevalence of orgasm problems was similarly elevated among men with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes as compared to other men, erectile difficulties were elevated only amond men with diagnosed diabetes.”
Link Code: e12651
http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dc10-0524
Testing Covariates of Type 2 Diabetes-cognition Associations in Older Adults
Journal: Neuropsychology (September 2010)
Authors: McFall P, Geall B, Fischer A, et al
Purpose: The authors sought to “advance our understanding of Type 2 diabetes-cognition relationships in older adults by linking and testing comprehensive sets of potential moderators, potential mediators, and multiple cognitive outcomes.”
Results: After identifying “13 health-related (but T2D-distal) potential covariates, representing four informal domains (ie, biological vitality, personal affect, subjective health, lifestyle activities),” researchers found that six were “sensitive to T2D associations with performance on seven cognitive measures,” while three “(systolic blood pressure, gait-balance composite, subjective health) were significant mediators.” The authors believe that their findings hold “implications for future research across several field of study and application” including: 1) neuropsychological research on neural and biological bases of T2D-related cognitive decline; 2) clinical research on intervention and treatment strategies; 3) larger-scale longitudinal studies examining the potential multilateral and dynamic relationships among T2D status, related comorbidities, and cognitive outcomes.
Link Code: e12652
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019246
Diabetes, Alzheimer Disease, and Vascular Dementia. A Population-based Neuropathologic Study
Journal: Neurology (August 25, 2010)
Authors: Ahtiluoto S, Polvikoski T, Peltonen M, et al
Purpose: In order “to investigate the relation of diabetes to dementia,Alzheimer disease, and vascular dementia,” researchers initiated the Vantaa 85 study which analyzed “incidence, mortality, and neuropathologic outcomesin a prospective population-based study of the oldest old.”
Results: After an initial examination, 553 residents of Vantaa, Finland “aged ≥85 years on April 1, 1991” were “reexamined in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2001,” and “autopsies were performed in 291 persons who died during the follow-up.” The authors found that “diabetes at baseline doubled the incidence of dementia, Alzheimer disease, and vascular dementia, and increased mortality.” Although “individuals with diabetes were lesslikely to have -amyloid and tangles,” they were “more likely to have cerebral infarcts after all adjustments.”
Link Code: e12653
