Keywords
Computed tomography
Evans Index
Cerebral atrophy
Ventricular enlargement
How to Cite
Abstract
Background: Diabetes mellitus has been progressively linked to neurodegeneration, such as cerebral atrophy, ventricular enlargement, and cortical deepening of cortical sulci that cause cognitive impairment and brain accelerated ageing.
Aim: To make comparisons of diagnostic radiology of cerebral atrophy using CT between diabetic and non-diabetic adults and to assess the association between diabetes duration and ventricular enlargement.
Methods: 73 adults aged 50-70 who were undergoing non-contrast CT brain examination were conducted in an analytical cross-sectional study. A total of 37 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 36 age and sex matched non diabetic controls were used. Quantitative measurement of the Evans Index in assessing ventricular size and a standardized visual grading scale in determining ventricular enlargement and cortical sulcal widening were measured. The independent samples t-tests were used to compare continuous variables, chi-square tests to compare categorical variables and Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between Evans Index and period of diabetes.
Findings: The means of Evans Index were found to be significantly higher in diabetic individuals (0.302 ± 0.018) than in non-diabetic individuals (0.263 ± 0.014) (p < 0.001). Cerebral atrophy was noted in 56.8 out of 100 diabetic and 13.9 out of 100 non-diabetic people (p < 0.001). A greater percentage of diabetic group had vascular enlargement of the ventricles and widening of the cortical sulcus. Evans Index was found to correlate with duration of diabetes significantly and positively (r = 0.58, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Type 2 diabetes mellitus plays a major role in enhancing CT-based measures of cerebral atrophy. The longer the duration of diabetes, the larger the ventricular enlargement is, which indicates that the cumulative impact of chronic metabolic dysregulation on brain structure is reduced.