Diabetic complications

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.

Diabetologist Amar Puttanna addresses growing concerns about the rise of dementia in diabetes care and highlights where guidelines, research efforts, and management options are needed to tackle this comorbidity.

A prospective study reveals accelerated declines in some measures of cognitive performance among people with type 2 diabetes.

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.

Wu CY et al. Diabetes Care 2018: dc180007. doi: 10.2337/dc18-0007

Biessels GJ, Despa F. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2018. doi: 10.1038/s41574-018-0048-7

Valentini A et al. Acta Diabetol 2018. doi: 10.1007/s00592-018-1187-y

Liu CL et al. BMC Endocr Disord 2018; 18: 45. doi: 10.1186/s12902-018-0273-z

Degludec delivers the same magnitude of protection against hypoglycemia relative to glargine across patient age groups, shows analysis of the SWITCH 2 and DEVOTE trials.

Zhu B et al. Acta Diabetol 2018. doi: 10.1007/s00592-018-1181-4

Ritzel R et al. Diabetes Care 2018: dc180168. doi: 10.2337/dc18-0168

Saetung S et al. Acta Diabetol 2018. doi: 10.1007/s00592-018-1166-3

Oriot P et al. Acta Diabetol 2018. doi: 10.1007/s00592-018-1170-7

McCarthy MM, Grey M. Diabetes Care 2018. doi: 10.2337/dc17-2597

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.

This review takes a practical approach to the assessment, nursing care, and medical treatment of diabetes in the elderly, highlighting major challenges and suggesting solutions to common clinical problems.

The drive to achieve lower HbA1c targets in older patients is not without concern or risk. Our UK Board address concerns highlighted by recent trials and discuss whether current guidelines do enough to mitigate the risks of overtreatment.

Results of a longitudinal study show that diabetes and poor glycemic control are associated with long-term cognitive decline among older people in the UK.

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.