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Dementia

Type 2 diabetes has a slow and insidious effect on cognition

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been linked with cognitive impairment and dementia. A new cross-sectional study reports that T2DM is also associated with dementia in Parkinson disease, and another study describes the long-term clinical course of diabetes-associated cognitive dysfunction; however, the mechanisms through which T2DM affects the brain are not completely understood.

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Figure 1: Potential mechanisms linking type 2 diabetes mellitus to cognitive impairment.

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Correspondence to Hiroyuki Umegaki.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Bohnen, N. I. et al. Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. 20, 1394–1398 (2014) | Rawlings, A. M. et al. Ann. Intern. Med. 161, 785–793 (2014)

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Umegaki, H. Type 2 diabetes has a slow and insidious effect on cognition. Nat Rev Neurol 11, 127–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2015.17

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