Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors used to treat type 2 diabetes might prevent dementia, providing greater benefits with longer treatment, suggests a large study from Korea published by The BMJ today. As this study was observational, the researchers note that the effect size could have been overestimated and say randomized controlled trials are now needed to confirm these findings. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with dementia globally is expected to reach 78 million by 2030 and type 2 diabetes is associated with a greater risk of developing dementia.
A recent study of over 65s with type 2 diabetes suggested a decreased risk of dementia associated with SGLT-2 inhibitors versus another type of diabetes drug, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. But the effects on younger people and specific types of dementia (eg, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia) remains unclear. To address this, researchers used the Korea National Health Insurance Service database to identify 110,885 pairs of adults with type 2 diabetes aged 40-69 years who were free of dementia and started taking either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a DPP-4 inhibitor between 2013 and 2021.
All participants (average age 62; 56% men) were matched by age, sex, use of the diabetes drug metformin, and baseline cardiovascular risk and were followed up for an average of 670 days to see who developed dementia. Potentially influential factors including personal characteristics, in.