THURSDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Among healthy middle-aged adults, adiposity and hyperglycemia correlate with poor cognitive performance, according to a study published online Dec. 28 in Diabetes Care.

Caroline M. Sanz, M.D., from the University of Toulouse in France, and colleagues examined the correlation between markers of insulin resistance, markers of adiposity, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and cognitive performance in a sample of 1,172 adults aged 35 to 64 years without diabetes.

The researchers found that, in tests evaluating processing speed, elevated markers of adiposity correlated with poor cognitive performance. In each test, the probability of being in the lowest quartile was significantly increased for participants in the upper versus the lowest quartile of body mass index (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.18 for digit symbol substitution test [DSST]; OR, 2.09 for Stroop test). Poor cognitive performance in the DSST was also significantly more likely for those with high HbA1c (adjusted OR, 1.75). In men, but not women, waist circumference was linked to poor cognitive performance.

"In a population of middle-aged adults without diabetes, we found that adiposity and a high level of HbA1c were both associated with poor cognitive performance in tests assessing processing speed," the authors write.

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