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Did you know that diabetes not only affects the heart and circulation but the mind, too? Persons with type 2 diabetes have roughly double the risk of dementia than adults without diabetes. Even adults in the early stages of diabetes before diagnosis show lower cognitive function, although researchers don’t understand exactly how diabetes and cognitive decline are connected.

This spring researchers at the University of Maryland are launching a small pilot study to understand just this, with the ultimate goal of finding ways to prevent both diabetes and the cognitive decline that may follow. This study, called the Cognition and Metabolism in Prediabetes (CAMPS) study, “will determine how daily changes in blood sugar are related to your ability to pay attention, concentrate, learn, remember new information, and perform speeded thinking tasks,” according to the study protocol.

“This study will utilize continuous glucose-monitoring technology, which has the ability to detect impaired glycemia much earlier than the conventional glycemic metrics, and may allow for a more nuanced understanding of cognitive changes in the very early stages of diabetes,” said Tasneem Khambaty, PhD, one of the principal investigators.

Two short visits

Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Maryland Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, the study lasts two weeks and will enroll healthy people over 50 who do not have diabetes.

Once enrolled, participants will make two visits to the Baltimore VA Medical Center in downtown Baltimore.

During the first of two three-hour visits, researchers will draw blood and administer a cognitive test to participants. Then they’ll attach a continuous blood glucose monitoring device that will take readings for 10 days.

The device includes a plastic thumb-size transmitter, with a tiny sensor wire placed just beneath the skin, providing blood sugar readings around the clock. The device is painless and can be worn in the shower and bath. At the end of 10 days, participants will return to the center to have their blood drawn, complete some questionnaires and have the device removed.

Benefits of the study

Compensation of $100 will be provided at the end of the study, and parking at the VA Medical Center is free.

Participants may also benefit from learning more about their personal health, including blood pressure, cognitive function and glucose levels. If researchers unearth any health problems, they will alert you and your doctor.

Researchers hope the CAMPS study will help find more ways to prevent diabetes and subsequent dementia in older age.

For more information about the CAMPS study or if you’re interested in participating, call (410) 605-7179 and mention “CAMPS”.