Dementia & Diabetes
Diabetes and dementia are interlinked; People with type 1 diabetes are at risk of developing dementia and the risk increases if glycaemic control is suboptimal over time. People with type 2 diabetes have twice the risk of developing dementia compared to those without diabetes. Most people with diabetes who have dementia will have vascular dementia. Both are progressive, long-term conditions and can affect mainly but not always older people. Dementia makes the management of diabetes difficult, but sub-optimally controlled diabetes can also impact on the safety and well-being of people with dementia. This session discusses the challenges of screening and the role that diabetes healthcare professions have in supporting people who have both conditions and in educating other non-specialist health care professionals