A study of 283,772 people, with an average age of 64, found that both type 1 and type 2 diabetes significantly raise dementia risk, according to results published on March 18 in the journal Neurology.
Participants with type 1 diabetes (5,442 people) were nearly three times more likely to develop dementia than those without diabetes, while participants with type 2 diabetes (51,511 people) were twice as likely. It's one of the first large studies to establish this link for type 1 diabetes as well.
Over an average follow-up of 2.4 years, 2,348 people developed dementia; the authors estimate that around 65% of dementia cases among people with type 2 diabetes in the study could be attributed to the disease itself, possibly due to damage high glucose causes to brain cells and blood vessels, and buildup of toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease.