Poorly controlled cholesterol is associated with cognitive impairment in T2DM: A resting-state fMRI study

Abstract

Background: Debate remains on whether hypercholesterolemia is associated with cognitive impairment. Hence, we investigated whether poorly controlled cholesterol impairs functional connectivity among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: Resting-state functional connectivity infers to an interregional cooperation characterized by synchronous and low-frequency (<0.08 Hz) fluctuations on blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We used resting-state fMRI to investigate the functional connectivity of 25 T2DM patients with poorly controlled cholesterol, 22 patients with target cholesterol and 26 healthy controls. Further correlation analysis was conducted between the functional connectivity and clinical data as well as neuropsychological tests. Results: The three groups did not statistically differ in age, sex, education level, body mass index, blood pressure, fasting C-peptides, and triglyceride. Compared with target cholesterol patients, patients with poorly controlled cholesterol showed significantly increased levels of serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and LDL/high-density lipoproteins (HDL) ratio, as well as poor performance in Trail Making Test B (TMT-B) (p∈