Diabetes medication reduces dementia risk: German researchers

Treating people with type 2 diabetes, also known as "age-related diabetes", with anti-diabetics reduces their risk for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, said German researchers on Tuesday.

Researchers of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) draw this conclusion from an analysis of health insurance data.

Their findings are published in the journal "Annals of Neurology".

Type 2 diabetes most commonly occurs in late adulthood, and it has long been known that it can affect the patient's mental health, as patients have a greater risk of developing dementia than non-diabetics, said DZNE.

German researchers investigated how anti-diabetic medication influences this risk in the current study.

The analysis confirmed previous findings that diabetics have an increased risk of developing dementia.

However, it also found out that this risk can significantly be modified by pioglitazone, a drug prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

This drug is taken as tablets and is applied in short-term as well as in long-term treatment of diabetes as long as the body is still capable of producing its own insulin.

"Treatment with pioglitazone showed a remarkable side benefit. It was able to significantly decrease the risk of dementia," says Gabriele Doblhammer, the demographer of DZNE. "The longer the treatment, the lower the risk."

DZNE also noted that risk reduction was most noticeable when the drug was administered for at least two years, and diabetics given this treatment developed dementia less often than non-diabetics.