The Impact of Glucose on Cognition in Neurodegenerative Disease

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorRich, Jill Bee
dc.contributor.authorZaidi, Syeda Khush-Bakht
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-03T20:04:13Z
dc.date.available2023-10-03T20:04:13Z
dc.date.issued2022-09
dc.date.updated2023-10-03T20:04:12Z
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology (Functional Area: Clinical Psychology)
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractGlucose dysregulation has been associated with poorer cognitive functioning in healthy adults with and without diabetes, as well as in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. In addition to cognitive changes, hyperglycemia has also been associated with brain atrophy, and this is especially true for those with the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 genotype. However, most of these studies rely on cognitive screening measures of dementia with vast variations in how cognition is assessed. This precludes the ability to make conclusive inferences from findings that have not assessed cognition consistently nor comprehensively. In the present study, the effects of glucose on cognition were examined across healthy aging, and two neurodegenerative diseases, namely Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), with the goal of assessing cognition in a detailed and standardized manner across cohorts. Data from the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative was used to assess three cohorts of healthy adults and individuals with AD and PD. The primary interest was to analyze the effects of elevated glucose levels on cognition after controlling for related covariates of triglycerides, hypertension, and smoking. Secondary analyses examined the roles of genetics, and brain volume with glucose. Higher glucose levels were differentially related to disease status and cognitive abilities after controlling for the effects of triglycerides, hypertension, and smoking. In healthy adults and those with PD, glucose levels were associated with poorer cognition, but not in those with AD. Among healthy adults, this effect was due to worse language and visuospatial abilities whereas widespread cognitive changes over domain-specific impairment was observed in those with PD. In AD, glucose levels were not associated with cognition. No significant interaction emerged between ApoE-ε4 carriers and glucose in neurodegenerative disease. An interaction between lower brain volume and poorer cognition was observed among those with higher glucose levels in the healthy adult group but not in the PD or AD groups. Hyperglycemia appears to have a different relationship in those with and without neurodegenerative disease. In healthy adults, it may be possible that even glucose levels within the normal range may be exerting deleterious effects that manifest clinically, affecting both cognition and brain volume. In neurodegenerative disease, more research is needed to understand the complex relationship between hyperglycemia and specific disease pathology. With the consistent increase in both diabetes and dementia, close monitoring of glucose levels may be a potential modifiable risk factor that contributes to optimal brain health to reduce the risk of a dementia diagnosis.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/41441
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectClinical psychology
dc.subjectNeurosciences
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subject.keywordsNeuropsychology
dc.subject.keywordsCognition
dc.subject.keywordsCognitive functions
dc.subject.keywordsMemory
dc.subject.keywordsAlzheimer's disease
dc.subject.keywordsParkinson's disease
dc.subject.keywordsDiabetes
dc.subject.keywordsGlucose
dc.subject.keywordsSugar
dc.subject.keywordsNeurodegenerative disease
dc.subject.keywordsBrain structures
dc.subject.keywordsMRI
dc.subject.keywordsGenetics
dc.subject.keywordsApolipoprotein
dc.subject.keywordsApoE
dc.subject.keywordsGenes
dc.titleThe Impact of Glucose on Cognition in Neurodegenerative Disease
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Zaidi_SyedaKhushBakht_2023_PhD.pdf
Size:
686.52 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.87 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.39 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Psychology (Functional Area: Clinical Psychology)

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.