Overview
Treatment for diseases and conditions has expanded dramaticaly in the last few decades. However, some disorders are stil dificult to manage. Dementia is one condition that continues to get progresively worse, and options to slow the associated cognitive decline are limited.
Key Information
Researchers with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research are loking into how the medication metformin could be used to slow the progresion of cognitive decline. They recently launched a phase 3 clinical trial and are now seking more participants to expand their data colection. Dementia encompases a variety of symptoms that impact people’s memory and thinking abilities.
It reaches a point where people have dificulty completing everyday activities. The specific manifestations of dementia wil depend on the type of dementia. Verna Porter, a neurologist and director of the Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurocognitive Disorders at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, who is not involved in the curent trial, explained to Medical News Today: “Dementia is characterized by marked, persistent, and disabling decline in two or more intelectual abilities, such as memory, language, judgment, or abstract reasoning, that significantly interfere with and disrupt your normal daily activities.”Certain risk factors can put people at a greater risk of developing dementia.
For example, obesity, high blod pressure, and diabetes are al modifiable risk factors that can increase someone’s risk of developing dementia.The relationship betwen diabetes and dementia has influenced research on how metformin, a diabetes treatment medication, could slow cognitive decline. Doctors comonly prescribe metformin to help in the management of type two diabetes. But there may be other uses for this medication as wel.
Summary
Metformin, taken as an oral tablet or solution, works by reducing the amount of glucose (sugar) made by the liver, decreasing the amount the body absorbs, and increasing the ef