Background: Previous studies have reported that patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have a higher incidence of cognitive decline and an increased risk of developing all types of dementia. The aim was to elucidate the association between serum human epididymal protein 4 and cognitive function in patients with DM.
Methods: Serum levels of HE4 were measured in 205 patients with DM. All DM patients were followed up for a median period of 48 months (range=5– 49) prospectively. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to evaluate the predictive value of serum HE4 for predicting cognitive decline (end point).
Results: Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that serum HE4 was independently associated with MOCA score after adjusting for age, gender, BMI, current smoker, current drinker, admission systolic and diastolic BP, CVD history and laboratory measurements in patients with DM at baseline (Sβ= − 0.120; 95% CI, − 0.151– − 0.069; P < 0.001). The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that serum HE4 (HR=2.408, 95% CI 1.669– 5.238, P < 0.001) was an independent prognostic factor for cognitive decline in these DM patients.
Conclusion: Our results showed that serum HE4 was significantly and independently associated with cognitive decline and had independent predictive value for cognitive decline in patients with DM. Serum HE4 might enable early recognition of senile dementia among DM patients.
Keywords: human epididymis protein 4, diabetes mellitus, cognitive decline, prognostic value