United States: Surprisingly this is ultimately according to the findings which is being implemented in a new study, there is a particular class of diabetes drug that has been proven to lower the occurrence of dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
SGLT2 inhibitors or gliflozins act by hiking the kidney to excrete sugar through urine as they block the reabsorption of glucose in both kidneys, the researchers noted.
But the same drugs might also have a positive effect on the brain, researchers pointed out.
As reported by Upi.com, these SGLT2 inhibitors are linked with a 20 percent decrease in Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, and 30% decrease in dementia resulting from blood vessel disease in the brain, researchers found Wednesday in Neurology.
“The results are generally equivalent, even when potential confounding variables such as blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and kidney function are taken into consideration,” noted lead researcher Dr Minyoung Lee, Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea.
The study involved data on 35,897,916 new users of diabetes meds, with Type 2 diabetes in South Korea between 2014 and 2019. Users of SGLT2 inhibitors were compared with other oral diabetes medications users.
SGLT2 inhibitors, for Alzheimer’s disease incidence density was 39.45 per 10,000 person-year, while other diabetes drugs were 64 per 10,000 person-year. Person-years are the number of participants recruited in the study and the total time administered by the study.
Vascular dementia incidence in patients with SGLT2 inhibitors was 10.9 per 10,000 person-years and 18.7 in patients receiving other medications.
And Parkinson’s rates were a little more than nine cases per 100000 compared to nearly fourteen cases for the others that were taking other drugs.
“From previous research, we already understand that neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease are prevalent and incident rates are rising due to advancing population age and people with diabetes are more susceptible to developing cognitive decline And this class of drugs could offer some form of protection against dementia and Parkinson’s disease,” Lee said in a journal news release.
However, the Lee noted that the people in the study were followed for less than 5 years and hereby more research is needed to see whether SGLT2 inhibitors could protect the brain long-term.