Endocrine Abstracts

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease, which is accompanied by systemic damage to organs, including the central nervous system. Clinically, these changes are associated with cognitive impairment, the pathogenesis of which is also largely heterogeneous.

Objective: To evaluate the role of tau-protein in the diagnosis of cognitive impairment in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Materials and methods: The study was tested in the ethics committee, all patients signed an informed consent. Research design – observational, transverse, one-stage. The study included 126 patients with type 1 diabetes, the average age of which was 29.1 ± 8.5 years and a control group of 25 people were comparable by sex and age. In addition, 204 patients with type 2 diabetes at the age of 60.8 = 11.9 years were examined, the control group consisted of 20 people comparable by sex and age. Patients were evaluated for blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and the level of tau-protein. Cognitive function was tested using the Montreal Cognitive Impairment Scale (MoCA). To assess glucose variability, we continuously monitored glycemia with an estimate of the coefficients.

Results of the study: Patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes had cognitive impairment of 22.3 (20–25) and 21.3 (19–24) points according to the MoCA test).The clinical spectrum of disorders varied depending on the type of diabetes. When assessing the level of tau-protein, a significant increase in its content was recorded among patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (P = 0.001, U = 113.0; 0.001; U = 11.0). Correlation analysis showed a positive relationship between tau-protein and fasting glycemia, glycated hemoglobin and the MoCA test; in addition, in the type 2 diabetes group, a correlation of tau-protein level with the presence of cognitive impairment and the age of patients was found. Significant associations of the coefficients of variability and communication with tau protein were detected only in the group with type 1 diabetes.

Conclusion: Cognitive impairment in diabetic patients is associated with taupathy and chronic hyperglycemia.