Analysis of cognitive disorders in older people with diabetes – preliminary study

Introduction: Diabetes is a growing public health problem. Epidemiological studies indicate that the disease shortens life and significantly deteriorates its quality. The impact of diabetes on physical health of patients is well documented, but its impact on cognitive abilities has not been studied in detail so far. The deficit of reports regarding this problem among Polish researchers was an inspiration to start new studies.

Aim of the research: To evaluate mild cognitive disorders in elderly patients with diabetes.

Material and methods: The study was conducted in 2015. The study group included 7 elderly people with type 2 diabetes for more than 10 years. The control group consisted of 7 individuals of the same age without diabetes. The research tool was a self-made questionnaire to examine the cognitive abilities. An analysis of cognitive functions such as short-term memory, performing analysis and synthesis processes, understanding and creating metaphorical examples, narration and performing metalinguistic operations was performed.

Results: Differences in cognitive functioning in the field of the studied variables were observed between examined groups. Elderly people with diabetes achieved significantly lower scores in all examined cognitive functions than healthy respondents.

Conclusions: Elderly patients with type 2 diabetes are particularly susceptible to mild cognitive impairment. It is necessary to take this group of patients under diagnosis and early secondary prevention in order to prevent the negative impact of the disease.