However, after adjustment for specific diabetes-related risk factors (duration of diabetes, HbA1c and medication status as a measure of disease severity), higher IL-6 was still significantly associated with a decline in cognitive ability as measured by DST (standardised β −0.076, p=0.02), MR (standardised β −0.119, p<0.001) and TMTB (standardised β 0.089, p=0.01). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and diabetes mellitus.