Patients with diabetes have increased risks of cognitive impairment and dementia, which affecting the quality of life and diabetes management. Therefore, it is an urgent challenge to identify non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of the cognitive decline in patients with diabetes. Previous research has shown that both olfactory dysfunction and decreased odor-induced brain activation are present before clinically measurable cognitive decrements in type 2 diabetes. This is a cross-sectional and longitudinal study to establish diagnostic models based on olfactory function assessments and odor-induced brain activation for cognitive impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The investigators will recruit 200 patients with type 2 diabetes in the outpatient and inpatient departments. Health controls will be recruited from the community. At the baseline, clinical information collection, 100g-steamed bread meal test, biochemical measurement, cognitive assessments, olfactory test and functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) scan will be conducted for all participants. Study duration was 3 years with a follow-up every 18 months. In the longitudinal study, all of the assessments will be repeated to evaluate changes of observational parameters.
This is a cross-sectional and longitudinal study to establish diagnostic models based on olfactory function assessments and odor-induced brain activation for cognitive impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.