Older adults and type 1 diabetes

Deintensifying diabetes treatment does not increase the risk for short-term adverse outcomes in male nursing home residents with limited life expectancy or advanced dementia, say researchers.

Follow-up results from the WISDM trial show that extended use of continuous glucose monitoring leads to reduced hypoglycemia without increasing hyperglycemia risk in older people with type 1 diabetes.

Older adults with type 1 diabetes spend more time in target glucose range when using the Cambridge hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system than when using sensor-augmented pump delivery, shows a randomized trial.

Older adults with a longer duration of type 1 diabetes have an increased likelihood of experiencing depression and hypoglycemia unawareness, researchers report.

Findings from the ORACL trial suggest that closed-loop insulin delivery results in better glycemic control than sensor-augmented pump therapy among older adults with longstanding type 1 diabetes.

Intensification of diabetes medications in older adults at the point of discharge from hospital is associated with an increased risk for hypoglycemia, without gains in glycemic control, research suggests.

Researchers find that older adults with diabetes are frequently treated to an intensive glycemic target, putting them at risk for poor outcomes, particularly when high-risk agents are used.

Study findings presented at the virtual 56th EASD Annual Meeting indicate that polypharmacy is common among people with type 1 diabetes and is associated with an increased risk for adverse outcomes.

Continuous glucose monitoring is well accepted and reduces time in hypoglycemia among older individuals with type 1 diabetes, report researchers in JAMA.

Older people with and without diabetes experience similar short-term improvements in exercise capacity following cardiac rehabilitation, but those with diabetes fare worse after 1 year, EU-CaRE study results suggest.

The quality of care among older adults with diabetes declines with increasing comorbidity and is particularly low for those with both osteoarthritis and major depression, population-based study data show.

Severe hypoglycemia may treble the risk for impaired cognitive function in older adults with type 1 diabetes, shows an analysis of data from the Study of Longevity in Diabetes.

Older people with diabetes are frailer throughout aging than those without diabetes, study findings indicate.

Baseline data from the WISDM trial show that older adults with type 1 diabetes who have impaired awareness of hypoglycemia symptoms can spend over half an hour per day with extremely low blood glucose levels.

An increase in depressive symptoms around the time of a new diabetes diagnosis in older adults is associated with increasing difficulty in performing daily activities such as shopping, walking, and dressing, US researchers report.

The excess mortality risk associated with high or very low glycated hemoglobin values is modified by glycemic variability in diabetes patients aged 70 years or more, shows an analysis of The Health Improvement Network database.

An initiative involving “virtual ward” meetings between diabetes specialist nurses, community nurses, and consultants has led to improvements in glycemic control and a reduction in nurse visits among older diabetes patients in North East Essex, study results suggest.

A bidirectional relationship between depression and severe dysglycemia exists among older people with type 1 diabetes, indicating a need for increased vigilance in this population.

Research suggests that older diabetes patients, particularly those using insulin, often have nonspecific symptoms of hypoglycemia that are overlooked by healthcare providers.

An EASD session on optimizing patient outcomes included research into the effect of guideline adherence, predictors of changes in medication adherence, and overtreatment of older people with diabetes.