Background/Aim: Dementia is a chronic progressive deterioration of cognitive function. About 50 million cases of dementia worldwide, 5-8% of elders aged 60 years and more have dementia. Adiponectin is an adipokine and presents in the humans' brains and is linked to multiple functions in the central nervous system. Leptin is a cytokine that was thought to be associated with a decline in cognitive function. The present study aimed to assess adiponectin and leptin levels in elderly demented patients.
Materials and methods: the current study included 60 subjects of both genders aged 65 years and more; Group (I): 40 patients with dementia, and Group (II): 20 healthy control subjects. We excluded participants with chronic renal or hepatic diseases, diabetics, hypertensive, dyslipidemic patients, those with thyroid disorders, and those who were morbidly obese. MMSE and MOCA tests were done on all subjects, levels of adiponectin and leptin were assessed in participants' sera using the ELISA test.
Results: Higher levels of adiponectin, but low levels of leptin were detected in patients with dementia. MMSE and MOCA scores were significantly correlated with serum adiponectin (negatively), and with serum leptin (positively). Conclusion: In elderly patients with dementia, serum adiponectin and leptin were strongly associated with the degree of dementia, which may help us to understand the underlying pathophysiology of this untreatable disease.