COMPARATIVE STUDY OF COGNITIVE STATUS IN ELDERLY WITH AND WITHOUT TYPE 2 DIABETES

Background: Increasing number of people with diabetes make it the greatest world-wide epidemy which indicates importance of education in physical and mental health of the patients. Since researches report different results about cognition status of diabetic patients, this study was conducted to determine and compare cognitive status in older people with and without type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this case- control study 80 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus compare with 80 persons without diabetes. Cases were selected from the patients refer to diabetes outpatient clinic and control group were patients referred to other clinics. Instruments were questionnaire for gathering demographic data, glucometer, DSM-IR-TR questionnaire, FBS for control group and TSH - T4- HbA1c for cases.. Results: The mean scores of MMSE were 23.3 and 26.8 in case and control group respectively. Difference between two groups was significant in MMSE scores (P<0.01), furthermore between men and women of two groups (P<0.01 for both). No significant difference of MMSE scores between men and women in case group was seen (P=0.45). There was negative association between MMSE scores and age also duration of illness according to the results. Conclusion: Elderly diabetic patients encounter some cognitive impairment which is exacerbated   with increasing age.