Do Age and Comorbidity Affect Intensity of Pharmacological Therapy for Poorly Controlled Diabetes Mellitus?

Objectives: To examine the influence of age and comorbidity on intensification of medical therapy for patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (DM). Design: Observational cohort study using data from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national databases. Setting: Thirteen VA medical center...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) 2005-07, Vol.53 (7), p.1214-1216
Main Authors: Chaudhry, Sarwat I., Berlowitz, Dan R., Concato, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Ageing
Biological and medical sciences
clinical inertia
Cohort analysis
Cohort Studies
Comorbidity
Diabetes
Diabetes Complications
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes Mellitus - drug therapy
Disease management
Drug therapy
Drugs
Female
General aspects
Humans
Hypoglycemic Agents - administration & dosage
Intensive treatment
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Older people
Quality of care
Risk factors
USA
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives: To examine the influence of age and comorbidity on intensification of medical therapy for patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (DM). Design: Observational cohort study using data from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national databases. Setting: Thirteen VA medical centers in New England, Florida, and Puerto Rico. Participants: Veterans (N=5,317) with poorly controlled DM receiving regular medical care Measurements: An increase in hypoglycemic medications, or intensification of therapy, was considered present at the visit if a new hypoglycemic medication was started or the dosage of an existing medication was increased. Results: The overall rate of intensification of therapy was 20.8% (1,106/5,317). The rate of intensification was highest in the youngest patients without comorbidity (24.5%) and lowest in the oldest patients with comorbidity (15.7%) (P
ISSN:0002-8614
1532-5415
DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53370.x