---
title: "Psych News Alert: Diabetes May Double Alzheimer's Risk"
description: Having type-2 diabetes can double people's risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. This finding, widely covered in the lay media, comes...
---

 10/3/11 12:00 AM

# Diabetes May Double Alzheimer's Risk

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html)

[![](https://static.hsstatic.net/BlogImporterAssetsUI/ex/missing-image.png)](https://static.hsstatic.net/BlogImporterAssetsUI/ex/missing-image.png) 

Having type-2 diabetes can double people's risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. This finding, widely covered in the lay media, comes from a report in  the journal *Neurology*. For 11 years, Japanese researchers followed more than 1,000 people aged 60 or older. Those with diabetes at the outset were 35 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those without diabetes; those with the most severe diabetes had more than triple the risk.

Diabetes, however, is only one in a growing list of possible Alzheimer's risk factors. Having the e4 variant of the APOE gene is another. Moreover, having the e4 variant plus living in a hazardous neighborhood might predispose people to Alzheimer's even more than just having the APOE e4 variant, preliminary data suggest. Read more on this topic in *Psychiatric News *at* * [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/8/27.full.](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/8/27.full.)

For more information on Alzheimer's risk factors in general, see *The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias. *Purchasing information is posted at [http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62278](http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62278).

(Image: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock.com)

[Alzheimer's disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-disease), [Alzheimer's risk factors](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-risk-factors), [hazardous neighborhood](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/hazardous-neighborhood), [the APOE e4 variant](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/the-apoe-e4-variant)

## Related posts

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_68083162-Jun-24-2025-03-40-36-0351-PM.jpg?height=200&name=shutterstock_68083162-Jun-24-2025-03-40-36-0351-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/05/drug-to-prevent-alzheimer-to-be-tested.html)

[prevention](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/prevention), [Alzheimer's disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-disease)

## [Drug to Prevent Alzheimer's to Be Tested](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/05/drug-to-prevent-alzheimer-to-be-tested.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 6/24/24 11:16 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/05/drug-to-prevent-alzheimer-to-be-tested.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/DNAstrand_111951620-Jun-24-2025-04-33-34-3769-PM.jpg?height=200&name=DNAstrand_111951620-Jun-24-2025-04-33-34-3769-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/gene-variations-in-alzheimer-show.html)

[Alzheimer's disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-disease), [psychiatry](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/psychiatry), [African Americans](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/african-americans), [genetics](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/genetics), [risk factors](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/risk-factors)

## [Gene Variations in Alzheimer's Show Racial Variations, Study Finds](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/gene-variations-in-alzheimer-show.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 4/10/13 12:00 AM

Many of the same genes associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease among people of...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/04/gene-variations-in-alzheimer-show.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lonelygirl_37988314-Jun-24-2025-07-30-05-0301-PM.jpg?height=200&name=lonelygirl_37988314-Jun-24-2025-07-30-05-0301-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/children-who-lose-parent-have-increased.html)

[Alzheimer's disease](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-disease), [Alzheimer's risk factors](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alzheimers-risk-factors)

## [Children Who Lose a Parent Have Increased Alzheimer's Risk](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/children-who-lose-parent-have-increased.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 9/1/11 12:00 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/children-who-lose-parent-have-increased.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert",
    "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T16:37:02.995Z",
  "datePublished" : "2011-10-03T04:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Psych News Alert: Diabetes May Double Alzheimer's Risk",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/diabetes-may-double-alzheimer-risk.html",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg"
    }
  }
}
```