Introduction:

Diabetes mellitus is a complex and chronic disease that has an impact on public health due to its high prevalence, the implicit economic cost and associated complications like cognitive alterations.

Methodology:

A review of the topic was carried out across national and international literature in databases of social sciences and health sciences between the years 1990-2019 that expose the possible association between diabetes mellitus and cognitive impairment, as well as the possible routes that lead to cognitive alterations.

Results:

The consulted literature exposed a link between diabetes mellitus and complications of the central nervous system, neurological lesions, attention capacity deficiencies, memory loss, cognitive impairment, and a considerable increase in the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's type dementia.

Conclusions:

The progressive nature of both diabetes mellitus, and associated vascular risk, suggest the need for prevention of cognitive impairment based on a comprehensive evaluation that includes neuropsychological tests within routine examinations in patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus.

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