Diabetes, Prediabetes, and Brain Aging: The Role of Healthy Lifestyle
Authors' conclusion
Diabetes and even prediabetes are associated with accelerated brain aging, especially among men and people with poor cardiometabolic health. However, a healthy lifestyle may counteract this.
Study context
- Population
- Dementia-free adults aged 40–70 years from the UK Biobank
- Participants
- 31,229 adults
- Exposure
- Prediabetes and diabetes vs normoglycemia
- Prediabetesn = 13,518
- Diabetesn = 1,149
- Outcome
- Brain age gap (BAG; brain age minus chronological age), brain age estimated by machine learning from 1,079 brain MRI phenotypes
- Follow-up
- Over 11 years
Methodological detailsUK Biobank, up to two brain MRI scans, machine learning brain age model
- UK Biobank
- Up to two brain MRI scans
- Machine learning brain age model
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
BAG
β
0.22
95% CI 0.10–0.34
Prediabetes
β
2.01
95% CI 1.70–2.32
Diabetes
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | β (CI) |
|---|---|
| Change in BAG over timeDiabetes vs Normoglycemia · significant increase in BAG | 0.27 (0.01–0.53) |
Brain age gap (BAG) by subgroup
- (Pre)diabetes–higher BAG association more pronounced in men and in people with ≥2 cardiometabolic risk factors
Joint exposure with lifestyle
- Healthy lifestyle (no smoking, no heavy drinking, high physical activity) significantly attenuated the diabetes-BAG association
Original publication
Diabetes, Prediabetes, and Brain Aging: The Role of Healthy Lifestyle. Diabetes Care. Published 28 August 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →