Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment in Recently Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients: Are Chronic Inflammatory Diseases Responsible for Cognitive Decline?

Objective To estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) among patients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (RDD) and to identify any relationships between CI and RDD comorbidities. Methods: One thousand seven hundred twelve patients with RDD participated in a cross-sectional study. The patients’ sociodemographic and clinical data were registered. Results The sample population had an average age of 51 ± 11 years, and 63.26% of the patients were female. CI was diagnosed in 38 patients (2.2%) and was more common among both females (2.8% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.063) and the elderly (0% at an age ≤ 30 years vs. 10.4% at an age > 70 years, p = 0.0001). Rheumatoid arthritis (present in 15.8% vs. absent in 2.1%) and asthma (13% vs. 2.1%) correlated significantly with CI based on the results of our logistic regression analysis. Conclusion Age, female gender, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma are risk factors for CI in the setting of RDD.