- 1,762studies in the library match, of 29,380
- 484name it in the title
- 1964–2027years published
- 1,705peer-reviewed articles
The query: title or abstract mentions "diabetes"/"diabetic", "insulin resistance", "metformin", "intranasal insulin", "hyperglycaemia", "glycated", "HbA1c" or "type 3 diabetes", matched case-insensitively against each record's title and abstract (its summary field) in alzhub's library of 29,380 study records, as of 2026-11-08. Every count on this page comes from that match. The matched list as JSON.
Cohort studies find higher dementia rates in people with type 2 diabetes, through damage to blood vessels, repeated low blood sugar, inflammation and the effect of insulin resistance on the brain. Some researchers describe Alzheimer's as a form of brain insulin resistance. Diabetes drugs, including metformin, intranasal insulin and the GLP-1 agonists, have been tested for an effect on cognition.
This page describes what published research in alzhub's library reports. It is not medical advice and does not apply to any one person: a doctor who knows the person's history is the only one who can say what a result or a treatment means for them.
What the studies report, in their own words
Whole sentences copied from the abstract or key findings of the highest-scoring matched studies, chosen because they mention the subject and give a figure. 8 of the 1,762 matched records are quoted; each links to its study page and from there to the paper.
“Absolute benefits of medications vary substantially depending on the baseline risk of cardiovascular and kidney outcomes; risk-stratified absolute effects of medications are summarised using an interactive multiple comparisons tool (https://matchit.magicevidence.org/250709dist-diabetes/#!/).”
“Study authors contributed unpublished sex-specific relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs on the association between diabetes and all dementia and its subtypes.”
“Pooled estimates also suggested an increased dementia risk associated with cataract (6,659 participants, 1,312 cases, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.00-1.38, I2 = 0.0%) and diabetic retinopathy (43,658 participants, 7,060 cases, HR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.11-1.61, I2 = 63.9%), respectively.”
“Objective Type 2 diabetes is associated with cognitive dysfunction and an increased dementia risk, particularly in individuals with concomitant cardiovascular and/or kidney disease.”
“Epidemiological evidence shows a relationship between cognitive impairment and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.”
“More than 25% of the U.S. population aged ≥ 65 years has diabetes mellitus (hereafter referred to as diabetes),1 and the aging of the overall population is a significant driver of the diabetes epidemic.”
“Novel VaD loci were associated with hypertension, diabetes, and neuron maintenance (SPRY2, FOXA2, AJAP1, and PSMA3).”
“Due to the consistent increase in A. muciniphila and decrease in R.ilealis in people with T2D subjects treated with metformin, we investigated the association between this ratio and cognition.”
What kind of evidence it is
By study design
| Design (as recorded) | Studies |
|---|---|
| Systematic review or meta-analysis | 102 |
| Randomised controlled trial | 21 |
| Other clinical trial | 13 |
| Cohort or longitudinal study | 231 |
| Case-control study | 20 |
| Cross-sectional study | 72 |
| Other recorded design | 13 |
| No design recorded | 1,290 |
The design is the one named in alzhub's record for the study; a record with none is counted as "no design recorded".
By year
| Year | Studies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 1 | |
| 2026 | 108 | |
| 2025 | 221 | |
| 2024 | 80 | |
| 2023 | 75 | |
| 2022 | 97 | |
| 2021 | 96 | |
| 2020 | 98 | |
| 2019 | 106 | |
| 2018 | 79 | |
| 2017 and earlier | 800 |
Other counts within the matched set
| Peer-reviewed articles | 1,705 |
| Marked open access in the record | 595 |
| Rated "high" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 211 |
| Rated "moderate" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 360 |
| Rated "low" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 1,181 |
| No evidence-strength rating | 10 |
| Records stating a participant count | 565 |
| Median participants (those records) | 984 |
| Largest participant count | 3,463,100 |
Within the 1,762 matched studies
| Studies… | Count | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| …that mention metformin | 114 | the abstract also contains "metformin" |
| …that mention a GLP-1 drug | 208 | the abstract also contains "GLP-1", "semaglutide" or "liraglutide" |
| …that report a hazard ratio | 160 | the abstract also contains "hazard ratio" or "HR" |
The 10 highest-scoring matched studies
Title matches first, then by alzhub's usefulness score, which rates a study's design, journal, evidence and recency, not whether its result is good news.
- Medications for adults with type 2 diabetes: a living systematic review and network meta-analysis
- Type 2 Diabetes as a Risk Factor for Dementia in Women Compared With Men: A Pooled Analysis of 2.3 Million People Comprising More Than 100,000 Cases of Dementia
- Effect of Linagliptin on Cognitive Performance in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiorenal Comorbidities: The CARMELINA Randomized Trial
- Effect of the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus on the development of cognitive impairment and dementia
- Diabetes in Older Adults: A Consensus Report
- Metformin-induced changes in the gut microbiome and plasma metabolome are associated with cognition in men
- Diabetes, antidiabetic medications and risk of dementia: A systematic umbrella review and meta-analysis
- Safety, Efficacy, and Feasibility of Intranasal Insulin for the Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease Dementia: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Diabetes, impaired fasting glucose, and development of cognitive impairment in older women
- Association Between Age at Diabetes Onset and Subsequent Risk of Dementia
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the set
102 of the matched records are recorded as a systematic review, meta-analysis or umbrella review; the highest-scoring not already listed above:
- Metabolic Syndrome and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Meta-Analysis
- Associations between vision impairment and eye diseases with dementia, dementia subtypes and cognitive impairment: An umbrella review
- Visual Impairment, Eye Diseases, and Dementia Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- Risk factors for mortality in elderly patients with hip fractures: a meta-analysis of 18 studies
- Physical inactivity, cardiometabolic disease, and risk of dementia: an individual-participant meta-analysis
Newest matched studies
- The metabolic-brain axis: GLP-1 signaling, insulin resistance, and obesity pharmacotherapy in neurodegeneration
- Effect of Metformin on tau pathology and proteostasis in cellular and a Drosophila model of Tauopathy
- Cognition in healthy aging, ages 36 to 108: Associations with dementia risk factors and neurodegenerative disease biomarkers
- Beyond Glycemic Control: The Pleiotropic Role of GLP-1RAs and Melatonin in Combating Neuroinflammation and Mitochondrial Dysfunction
- A family-aware All of Us benchmark for polygenic prediction and genomic machine learning
Journals with the most matched studies
| Journal | Studies |
|---|---|
| Neurology | 60 |
| Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD | 49 |
| Alzheimer s & Dementia | 26 |
| Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association | 26 |
| Journal of the American Geriatrics Society | 22 |
Questions
- Does diabetes cause Alzheimer's?
- Type 2 diabetes raises the risk of dementia in cohort studies, and several mechanisms are proposed, but most people with diabetes do not develop Alzheimer's. The studies below report the size of the association and what was found to modify it.
- How many studies on diabetes and alzheimer's does alzhub hold?
- 1,762 of the 29,380 study records in alzhub's library match the query "title or abstract mentions "diabetes"/"diabetic", "insulin resistance", "metformin", "intranasal insulin", "hyperglycaemia", "glycated", "HbA1c" or "type 3 diabetes""; 484 of them name it in the title. Counted from the records when this page was built.
- What kinds of study are they?
- 102 systematic review or meta-analysis, 21 randomised controlled trials, 13 other clinical trials, 231 cohort or longitudinal studys, 20 case-control studys, 72 cross-sectional studys; 1,290 record no design.
- What is the most recent study in the set?
- "The metabolic-brain axis: GLP-1 signaling, insulin resistance, and obesity pharmacotherapy in neurodegeneration" (Metabolism: clinical and experimental, 2026), the newest by publication date among the matched records.
- Which journals publish most on it?
- Neurology (60); Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD (49); Alzheimer s & Dementia (26), counted across the matched records.
Read on
- Risk factors, rankedDiabetes among the modifiable risks.
- Semaglutide and GLP-1 drugsThe diabetes drugs being tested for Alzheimer's.
- PreventionLifestyle trials and their results.