Association between diabetes and cognition in older adults without dementia

Objectives: Data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) evaluated cognition and depression in a sample of older adults with diabetes and compared them with those without diabetes. Design: Neuropsychological test scores from a comprehensive clinical assessment were contrasted for the two groups and test scores from CSHA-1 in 1991 used to predict test scores five years later from CSHA-2 with diabetes and depression as additional predictors. Results: There were no differences at CSHA-1 between those with diabetes and those without after adjusting for covariates of age, education, and gender. Older adults with diabetes at CSHA-2 scored lower on a measure of short-term memory, with age, education and CSHA-1 test scores as significant covariates in hierarchical regression analyses. Diabetes and depression were both associated with a measure of verbal short term memory. Conclusions: In this relatively healthy community sample, diabetes appears to have modest influences upon cognition, with verbal short-term memory being the most sensitive to the effects of diabetes