Depressive symptoms link diabetes and cognitive performance among elderly, study reveals

USA: A recent study found diabetes but not prediabetes to be consistently associated with increased depressive symptoms and worse cognitive performance in older adults. The study appears in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications.

"Mediation findings suggest that depression may be a biobehavioral pathway that connects diabetes to impaired cognition in the older adults, although we could not establish the temporal sequence," Claire J.Hoogendoorn, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA, and colleagues wrote in their study. "If causal, addressing both diabetes and depressive symptoms in this population may protect cognitive function."

The study was conducted to evaluate whether diabetes and prediabetes are associated with impaired cognitive performance among older adults and examine depressive symptoms as a mediator.

For this purpose, the researchers used cross-sectional data from a systematically recruited, community-based cohort study of diverse older adults called Einstein Aging Study -- consisting of  794 individual, mean age = 78.9 years; 64.4% Non-Hispanic White, 28.7% Non-Hispanic Black, 5.7% Hispanic. Self-reported diagnosis, prescribed medications, and fasting blood glucose were the parameters used to determine the diabtes status. Geriatric Depression Scale was used for assessing depressive symptoms. Cognitive tests included Digit Symbol, Trails-B, Free Recall, Category Fluency, Boston Naming, and Block Design. Linear regression and mediation analyses were applied.