Prof. Bei Wu awarded NIH grant to study connection between dementia, diabetes, and oral health

Bei Wu, PhD, Dean’s Professor in Global Health at NYU Meyers, has received a grant from the National Institute on Aging to develop the first study of the combined risk of diabetes and poor oral health on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

“Identifying both individual and combined risk factors for dementia and evaluating the impact of comorbidities on cognitive impairment is essential to improve cognitive health of older adults,” said Wu, who is also the co-director of the NYU Aging Incubator and Director of Research at the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing.

Poor oral health and type 2 diabetes are common in older adults. Studies have found that type 2 diabetes is associated with greater cognitive decline in older adults. In addition, there is growing evidence that poor oral health—including gum disease and tooth loss—contributes to cognitive decline.

Both diabetes and poor oral health are linked to systemic inflammation, which may magnify the risk for dementia. However, no research has been conducted examining how having both diabetes and poor oral health affects cognitive function, as compared to having either condition alone.

Through this one-year, $519,000 grant (R56AG067619), Wu and her colleague Huabin Luo, PhD, of East Carolina University will study the interaction effect of having both diabetes and poor oral health on cognitive function using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Health and Retirement Study. They will also examine the relationship between the co-occurrence of diabetes and poor oral health and inflammation, using measurements of C-reactive protein.  

The researchers hope to generate preliminary data to support a larger study of diabetes, oral health, and dementia that uses more than 25 years of data by linking the Medicare claims data to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Health and Retirement Study.

“This study will contribute to a better understanding of the risk profile of dementia by providing important evidence on the combined risk of both diabetes and poor oral health for dementia. Further, it may identify modifiable factors that can serve as targets to reduce the risk of dementia,” added Wu.