Type 2 diabetes in older patients: an analysis of the DPV and DIVE databases

• Published in: Therapeutic advances in endocrinology and metabolism 2020, Vol.11, p.2042018820958296-2042018820958296
• Main Authors: van Mark, Gesine, Tittel, Sascha R., Sziegoleit, Stefan, Putz, Franz Josef, Durmaz, Mesut, Bortscheller, Michaela, Buschmann, Ivo, Seufert, Jochen, Holl, Reinhard W., Bramlage, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiovascular diseases; Complications; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Drug therapy; Dyslipidemia; Epidemiology; Health risks; Hypertension; Hypoglycemia; Insulin; Kidney diseases; Medical treatment; Microvasculature; Older people; Original Research; Patients; Risk analysis; Risk factors
• ISSN: 2042-0188; 2042-0196
• DOI: 10.1177/2042018820958296

Background: The clinical profile differs between old and young patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We explored, based on a large real-world database, patient and disease characteristics and actual treatment patterns by age. Methods: The analysis was based on the DIVE and DPV registries of patients with T2DM. Patients were analyzed by age groups 50–59 (middle-young), 60–69 (young-old), 70–79 (middle-old), 80–89 (old), and 90 years or more (oldest-old). Results: A total of 396,719 patients were analyzed, of which 17.7% were 50–59 years, 27.7% 60–69 years, 34.3% 70–79 years, 18.3% 80–89 years and 2.0% at least 90 years. We found that (a) T2DM in old and oldest-old patients was characterized much less by the presence of metabolic risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia and smoking than in younger patients; (b) the HbA1c was much lower in oldest-old than in middle-young patients (7.2 ± 1.6% versus 8.0 ± 2.2%; p