Research

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A 10-year intensive lifestyle intervention targeting weight loss and increased physical activity does not reduce the overall prevalence of cognitive impairment or probable dementia in overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes.

For adults with type 2 diabetes, a 10-year intensive lifestyle program focusing on weight loss and exercise did not reduce the overall risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared to standard diabetes education. While the intervention successfully produced sustained weight loss and increased physical activity, these changes did not translate to a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment in this specific population. However, the intervention did improve other health metrics, suggesting that lifestyle changes remain important for general health even if they do not prevent cognitive decline in this context.

WeakRefutesHIGH confidence
Ten years of behavioral weight loss intervention did not result in an overall difference in the prevalence of cognitive impairment among overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes.
Mark A. Espeland et al. · Neurology · 2017

Why this rating

Large randomized controlled trial (n=3,802) with long-term follow-up (mean 11.4 years) and central adjudication.

Source

Effect of a long-term intensive lifestyle intervention on prevalence of cognitive impairment

Mark A. Espeland et al. · Neurology · 2017

DOI 10.1212/wnl.0000000000003955

rct · n=3802Cited 79×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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