Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2026 Jul 16;17:1873295. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2026.1873295. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a chronic metabolic disorder which characterized by increased blood glucose that affects different body systems. Increasing blood glucose to high levels cause sorbitol induced blood vessel damage, brain malfunction and degeneration of the nerves that can lead to cognitive dysfunction or dementia. For the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Yemen, which demonstrate the association between neurocognitive dysfunction and diabetes. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of neurocognitive dysfunction among Yemeni diabetic type2 patients and investigate the relations between these dysfunction, diabetic risk factors, and sociodemographic characteristics.
METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was carried out in Diabetes center of Al-Thawra public hospital from November 2024 to January 2025 and the sample size was 400 T2DM patients (aged 35 to 65 years) which calculated by Steven Thompson Equation. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS program and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for screening neurocognitive dysfunctions (NCDs) as a score varying from zero to 30, and impairment is indicated by a score of 23 or lower.
RESULTS: the result showed that, higher prevalence of (NCDs) 43% among T2DM patients (219 (54.75%) male and 181(45.25%) female). Neurocognitive dysfunction was significantly increased in elderly, low-educated, non-employed and long duration diabetes patients with P– value (0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 0.001) respectively. While it was significantly decreased in patients with low BMI and those make regular exercise with (P– value = 0.002 and 0.002) respectively.
CONCLUSION: the study showed a relatively high prevalence of neurocognitive dysfunction among patients with T2DM. In addition to that, neurocognitive dysfunction was more common among older patients, higher BMI, lower education, unemployment, diabetes duration and complications.
PMID:42534703 | PMC:PMC13421405 | DOI:10.3389/fendo.2026.1873295
