Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Obesity

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic. One of the unknown complications of DM is cognitive disorders. Different types of cognitive impairment caused by DM may affect the quality of life, self-management of diabetes, and glycosylated hemoglobin. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment and its relationship with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), diabetes self-management, and quality of life among diabetic patients.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 350 patients with type II diabetes (T2DM) admitted to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences clinics for 7 months. All the participants completed the brief psychological, demographic, quality of life, and self- management profile questionnaires. Then, HbA1c levels were examined. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software, version 16.

Results: According to the results, 40.3% of the patients had normal cognition, while 44.9% and 14.9% had mild and moderate cognitive impairment, respectively. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between the cognitive impairment score and HbA1c level, some aspects of quality of life, and self-management profile.

Conclusion: DM was associated with changes in cognition. Besides, cognitive impairment was associated with some domains of quality of life and self-management profile; as the cognitive impairment score increased, quality of life and self-management profile increased, as well. Also, a decreasing trend was observed in HbA1c levels in moderate to normal cognitive impairment states.