Does diabetes increase the risk of dementia?

Type 2 diabetes is a definite risk factor for dementia.

A research team at Imperial College London observed 457,902 patients with type 2 diabetes over six years.

If there are microvascular complications, the risk of dementia is 10% higher compared to those without.

Among them, the risk of dementia was 25% higher with neurological complications and 23% higher with kidney complications.

Hypoglycemia has also been shown to affect dementia.

That doesn't mean all type 2 diabetes patients will develop dementia, so there's no need to despair.

Even if you have diabetes, as long as your HbA1c levels are low, there are no complications, and you manage it well to prevent hypoglycemia.

In the above study, it was reported that for every 1% decrease in hemoglobin A1c, the risk of dementia decreased by 8%.

One-line summary: Lowering HbA1c by 1% reduces the risk of dementia by 8%!