Study on the correlation between visfatin and mild cognitive impairment in elderly patients with diabetes

Objective To explore the relationship between visfatin and mild cognitive impairment(MCI)in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM). Methods A perspective study involving 75 hospitalized T2DM patients were divided into groups with(MCI, n=35)and without(NMCI, n=40)mild cognitive impairment.Another 30 non-diabetic patients were chosen as normal control(NC). Fasting plasma levels of glucose(FPG), insulin(FINS), lipid, glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c), HOMA-IR and visfatin were measured and calculated. Results The serum visfatin level was higher in MCI(28.81±3.32)μg/L than in NMCI(20.69±3.40)μg/L and NC(19.06±2.35)μg/L(F=96.491, P<0.01). Visfatin was negatively correlated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)total score(MoCA-TS)(r=-0.646, P<0.01), but positively correlated with course of disease, waist hip ratio, FPG, HbA1c, FINS, HOMA-IR and triglyceride(r=0.282, 0.276, 0.318, 0.496, 0.339, 0.433, 0.309, P<0.05 or P<0.01). MoCA-TS was negatively correlated with course of disease, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol(r=-0.582, -0.365, -0.234, -0.330, -0.277, -0.238, P<0.05 or P<0.01), but positively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol(r=0.290, P<0.05). Higher values of visfatin(OR=3.246, P<0.01), HbA1c(OR=2.308, P<0.01)and course of disease(OR=1.634, P<0.05)were the risk factors for MCI. Conclusions The elevated visfatin level might be a risk factor for MCI in T2DM patients. Key words: Diabetes, type 2; Cognition disorders; Adipokines