%0 Journal Article
%T Comparison of memory impairments among two groups of patients with diabetes with different disease durations
%A Mohamad Heidari Gorji
%A Heshmatollah Ghahremanlu
%A Mohsen Haghshenas
%A Mohammad Sadeghi
%A Ali Heidari Gorji
%J BMC Research Notes
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-0500-5-353
%X This study included 120 patients treated at the diabetes clinic at Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ardebil, Iran, over 14 months (2009¨C2010). The patients were divided into two groups according to their disease duration as >5 years or <1 year (recently diagnosed). The two groups were approximately matched in terms of age and education. Memory impairments were examined using the Wechsler Memory Scale. Data are presented descriptively, and were compared between groups using multivariate analysis of variance.Overall, there were no significant differences in total scores or individual subscales between the two groups. However, 59% of all patients had below-average scores on the Wechsler memory questionnaire.Both groups reported below-average scores on the Wechsler Memory Scale that were independent of disease duration. The present study agreed with the results of other studies showing impaired memory among patients with diabetes. The current findings require further investigation in longitudinal studies.Insulin is a key cellular signaling molecule. Patients with diabetes are unable to produce or efficiently utilize insulin, resulting in hyperglycemia [1]. Some studies have explored the relationship between insulin and cognitive disease among patients with diabetes [2,3]. It seems that hyperglycemia may affect cognition and lead to memory defects in daily life in patients with diabetic [4]. Experimental studies have also revealed that insulin can influences memory function in animals [5-7]. The hippocampus is established as the main site of memory formation and learning, and studies have determined the levels of insulin in the hippocampus. Diabetes may result in decreased insulin levels in the hippocampus because of impaired insulin transportation to the hippocampus [8], and may therefore affect memory. The overall changes in glucose levels are related to memory functions [9-11]. Although some studies found no difference between a control and a diabetic group in terms of cogniti
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/5/353