Two-Hour OGTT Can Predict Future Episodic Memory Decline

HealthDay News — A two-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) can predict future episodic memory decline, according to a study published online Aug. 15 in Diabetes Care.

Sini Toppala, M.D., from the University of Turku in Finland, and colleagues examined whether the two-hour value of OGTT can predict cognitive decline among 961 individuals aged 45 to 74 years. At baseline (2001 to 2002) and follow-up (2011), categorical verbal fluency, word-list learning, and word-list delayed recall were tested.

The researchers found that worse performance and greater decline in the word-list delayed recall test after 10 years were predicted by a higher two-hour glucose value in the OGTT at baseline (slope, −0.08 and −0.07, respectively). Even after adding fasting glucose into the fully adjusted model, the associations remained significant.

“Our results suggest that two-hour OGTT could potentially be used as a predictor of future episodic memory decline,” the authors write. “Considering that OGTT is easily available and already used in clinical practice, these results may be helpful in detecting individuals at risk for cognitive decline even in the prediabetic stage and in guiding treatment strategies to prevent cognitive decline and dementia.”

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