Diabetes medications might prevent memory loss and dementia? Here’s what your parents should know

Certain types of medicines used to treat type 2 diabetes might help to prevent some cases of dementia, according to new research that builds on previous evidence suggesting these drugs might be useful in countering debilitating diseases associated with memory loss and cognition.

Scientists found there was a 35% reduced risk of dementia associated with a class of drugs that includes AstraZeneca Plc’s Forxiga and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s Jardiance, which are called sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors. They were compared with so-called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, a category that includes Novartis’s Galvus and Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana.

The study, using data from South Korea’s national health insurance database, was published in the British Medical Journal. It found that alongside a potential reduced risk for dementia associated with SGLT2 inhibitors, there was also a 39% reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease and a 52% reduction in the risk for vascular dementia.

Because the study was only observational, it cannot ascertain cause and effect between the drug and the impact on dementia risk. The scientists have called for clinical trials to now be carried out to test this theory.

Other studies have also shown that SGLT2 inhibitors appear to be associated with a reduced risk of dementia.

“The mechanism through which these effects take place are unknown but likely relate to either affecting inflammation in the brain, reducing the risk for cerebrovascular events or modulating glucose metabolism in the brain,” said Ivan Koychev, senior clinical researcher at Dementia Platform UK, which is based at the University of Oxford. Re-purposing existing drugs for new indications also “reduces greatly the risk of the drug failing through safety concerns,” said Koychev.