Severe hypoglycaemia and late-life cognitive ability in older people with Type 2 diabetes: the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study

• Published in: Diabetic medicine 2012-03, Vol.29 (3), p.328-336
• Main Authors: Aung, P. P., Strachan, M. W. J., Frier, B. M., Butcher, I., Deary, I. J., Price, J. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cohort Studies; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - etiology; Depression - psychology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - psychology; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Educational Status; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; epidemiology; Etiopathogenesis. Screening. Investigations. Target tissue resistance; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glycated Hemoglobin A - metabolism; Humans; hypoglycaemia; Hypoglycemia - complications; Hypoglycemia - epidemiology; Hypoglycemia - psychology; Hypoglycemic Agents - therapeutic use; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Risk Factors; Scotland; Severity of Illness Index; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Vertebrates: endocrinology
• ISSN: 0742-3071; 1464-5491
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2011.03505.x

Diabet. Med. 29, 328–336 (2012) Objective  To determine the association between lifetime severe hypoglycaemia and late‐life cognitive ability in older people with Type 2 diabetes. Methods  Cross‐sectional, population‐based study of 1066 men and women aged 60–75 years, with Type 2 diabetes. Frequency of severe hypoglycaemia over a person’s lifetime and in the year prior to cognitive testing was assessed using a previously validated self‐completion questionnaire. Results of age‐sensitive neuropsychological tests were combined to derive a late‐life general cognitive ability factor, ‘g’. Vocabulary test scores, which are stable during ageing, were used to estimate early life (prior) cognitive ability. Results  After age‐ and sex‐ adjustment, ‘g‘ was lower in subjects reporting at least one prior severe hypoglycaemia episode (n = 113), compared with those who did not report severe hypoglycaemia (mean ‘g’−0.34 vs. 0.05, P