| People with diabetes mellitus have a doubled risk of dementia, both Alzheimer?s disease (AD) and vascular dementia. Since the prevalence of diabetes type 2 is extremely high in western societies and rapidly increasing, diabetes is potentially one of the most important risk factors for AD. It remains unclear what underlies the relation between diabetes and dementia. Most of the cardiovascular risk factors that often cluster with diabetes and which are jointly described with ?metabolic syndrome? are themselves associated with dementia. Part of the association is possibly explained by these vascular risk factors. Alternatively, diabetes may be directly related to neurodegeneration, e.g. through direct effects of insulin and insulin resistance on the brain. The development of rationale prevention strategies requires insight in what causes or triggers progression of AD on the population level. We will investigate in the large prospective population-based Rotterdam Study what underlies the association between diabetes and risk of dementia. Specifically, we will investigate the role of insulin metabolism and the metabolic syndrome in the risk of late onset AD. This study will provide a better insight into the relation between diabetes and risk of dementia, and may thereby help the development of rationale preventive and therapeutic strategies. |
