Glucose level decline precedes dementia in elderly African Americans with diabetes.

INTRODUCTION: High blood glucose levels may be responsible for the increased risk for dementia in diabetic patients.

METHODS: A secondary data analysis merging electronic medical records (EMRs) with data collected from the Indianapolis-Ibadan Dementia project (IIDP). Of the enrolled 4105 African Americans, 3778 were identified in the EMR. Study endpoints were dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or normal cognition. Repeated serum glucose measurements were used as the outcome variables.

RESULTS: Diabetic participants who developed incident dementia had a significant decrease in serum glucose levels in the years preceding the diagnosis compared to the participants with normal cognition (P = .0002). They also had significantly higher glucose levels up to 9 years before the dementia diagnosis (P = .0367).

DISCUSSION: High glucose levels followed by a decline occurring years before diagnosis in African American participants with diabetes may represent a powerful presymptomatic metabolic indicator of dementia.