This study examined the association of diabetes with the onset of dementia (including Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VD) and any dementia) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by using a quantitative meta‐analysis of longitudinal studies. EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched for articles published up to December 2010. All studies that examined the relationship between diabetes and the onset of dementia or MCI were included. Pooled relative risks were calculated using fixed and random effects models. Nineteen studies met our inclusion criteria for this meta‐analysis, and 6184 subjects with diabetes and 38 530 subjects without diabetes were included respectively. All subjects were without dementia or MCI at baseline. The quantitative meta‐analysis showed that subjects with diabetes had higher risk for AD (relative risk (RR):1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20–1.77), VD (RR: 2.48, 95% CI: 2.08–2.96), any dementia (RR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.31–1.74) and MCI (RR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.02–1.45) than those without. The quantitative meta‐analysis showed that diabetes was a risk factor for incident dementia (including AD, VD and any dementia) and MCI.

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despite the methodological limitations of this meta-analysis, both poor self-rated health status and the presence of chronic disease are risk factors for depression among the elderly. In the elderly, poor self-reported health status appears to be more strongly associated with depression than the presence of chronic disease.

Astrocyte dysfunction and inflammation are associated with the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. Here, we found that multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (Men1; protein: menin) expression is attenuated in the brain of mice exposed to CUMS (chronic unpredictable mild stress) or lipopolysaccharide. Astrocyte-specific reduction of Men1 (GcKO) led to depressive-like behaviors in mice. We observed enhanced NF-κB activation and IL-1β production with menin deficiency in astrocytes, where depressive-like behaviors in GcKO mice were restored by NF-κB inhibitor or IL-1β receptor antagonist. Importantly, we identified a SNP, rs375804228, in human MEN1, where G503D substitution is associated with a higher risk of MDD onset. G503D substitution abolished menin-p65 interactions, thereby enhancing NF-κB activation and IL-1β production. Our results reveal a distinct astroglial role for menin in regulating neuroinflammation in depression, indicating that menin may be an attractive therapeutic target in MDD.

The quantitative meta-analysis showed that depression was a major risk factor for incidence of dementia (including AD, VD, and any dementia) and MCI.

tein. In summary, we found that levels of serum lipid/lipoprotein were not directly correlated with cognitive impairment among Chinese nonagenarians and centenarians.

Objective: Less education is commonly viewed as an important risk factor for late life depression. However, this has still not been confirmed. The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between education and risk for depression among the old. Method: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library database were used to identify potential studies. The studies were divided into cross-sectional and longitudinal subsets. The qualitative meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies and that of longitudinal studies were preformed, respectively. For prevalence and incidence rates of depression, odds risk (OR) and relative risk (RR) were calculated, respectively. Results: Twenty-four cross-sectional and 12 prospective longitudinal studies were included in this review. In this meta-analysis, in the more and less education groups, there were 22,964 and 28,024 subjects and 3032 and 6462 cases of depression, respectively. The qualitative meta-analysis showed that, compared with old people with more education, those with less education had higher risk for depression (odds risk (OR): 1.58, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI): 1.38–1.82; Relative risk (RR): 1.49, 95% CI: 1.16–1.91). Conclusions: Despite the methodological limitations of this meta-analysis, less education is associated with increase risk of late life depression.

Among nonagenarians/centenarians, in men, there are associations of cognitive impairment with habits of former/current smoking and current exercise, as well as indefinite associations with habits of alcohol and tea consumption. Smoking may have a significant negative impact on cognitive function, but current exercise significantly improve cognitive function. However, in women, there are no associations of cognitive impairment with all the habits.