TY - JOUR

T1 - Plasma glucose is not associated with performance on standard cognitive screening tests in a mixed memory clinic cohort—An observational cross-sectional study

AU - Gramkow, Mathias Holsey

AU - Simonsen, Anja Hviid

AU - Hasselbalch, Steen Gregers

AU - Waldemar, Gunhild

AU - Frederiksen, Kristian Steen

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Background: It has been shown under experimental conditions that cognitive performance, especially working memory, is impaired in patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus during hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic conditions, perhaps due to altered cerebral glucose metabolism. It is not known if patients with neurodegenerative diseases, who also exhibit pathological cerebral glucose metabolism, are affected in a similar manner by their plasma glucose levels. Objective: We aimed to test if performance on two cognitive screening tests was associated with plasma glucose levels in a memory clinic cohort. Methods: We included patients from the Copenhagen Memory Clinic Cohort with an available Mini Mental-State Examination (MMSE) test score and a plasma glucose measurement performed in conjunction with cognitive testing. We built linear regression models with MMSE and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE) test scores as the outcome and plasma glucose as the explaining variable and adjusted models for age, sex, and diabetes (plasma glucose measurement >11.1 mmol/L). We explored non-linear relationships by adding quadratic terms and by fitting a cubic spline regression model. Results: In total, 2714 patients had an available MMSE score and a plasma glucose measurement. MMSE and ACE total scores were not associated with plasma glucose in a linear or non-linear fashion when we adjusted for age, sex, and diabetes. Conclusion: Plasma glucose levels, predominantly within normal ranges, were not associated with performance on routinely applied cognitive tests and do not need to be taken into consideration when interpreting test results from memory clinic patients.

AB - Background: It has been shown under experimental conditions that cognitive performance, especially working memory, is impaired in patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus during hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic conditions, perhaps due to altered cerebral glucose metabolism. It is not known if patients with neurodegenerative diseases, who also exhibit pathological cerebral glucose metabolism, are affected in a similar manner by their plasma glucose levels. Objective: We aimed to test if performance on two cognitive screening tests was associated with plasma glucose levels in a memory clinic cohort. Methods: We included patients from the Copenhagen Memory Clinic Cohort with an available Mini Mental-State Examination (MMSE) test score and a plasma glucose measurement performed in conjunction with cognitive testing. We built linear regression models with MMSE and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE) test scores as the outcome and plasma glucose as the explaining variable and adjusted models for age, sex, and diabetes (plasma glucose measurement >11.1 mmol/L). We explored non-linear relationships by adding quadratic terms and by fitting a cubic spline regression model. Results: In total, 2714 patients had an available MMSE score and a plasma glucose measurement. MMSE and ACE total scores were not associated with plasma glucose in a linear or non-linear fashion when we adjusted for age, sex, and diabetes. Conclusion: Plasma glucose levels, predominantly within normal ranges, were not associated with performance on routinely applied cognitive tests and do not need to be taken into consideration when interpreting test results from memory clinic patients.

KW - cognition

KW - cognitive test

KW - dementia

KW - diabetes mellitus

KW - diagnosis

KW - glucose

KW - glucose metabolism

KW - memory

KW - memory clinic

KW - neurodegeneration

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164980836&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/gps.5968

DO - 10.1002/gps.5968

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37458494

AN - SCOPUS:85164980836

VL - 38

JO - International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

JF - International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

SN - 0885-6230

IS - 7

M1 - e5968

ER -