Page 34 - Diabetic Clarity

Diabetic Clarity

young and old. However, it’s important that elderly diabetics get an
individualized plan that’s tailored to their particular situation.

The life expectancy for a man in the U.S. is 88 years old while the life
expectancy for a U.S. female is 90 years old.

People classify the elderly into two categories:

• Young-Old – Those who are between 65 and 80 years of age.
• Old-Old – People who are older than 80 years of age.

Of course, these categories are too simplistic to the elderly, and
diabetes can affect them much more differently than a person who is
much younger than themselves.

Since an individualized plan is highly recommended for older diabetic
patients, what are the primary issues that a doctor must consider
when developing the plan?

Cognitive Dysfunction

Diabetes is tied to a host of other medical conditions for older adults.
Geriatric syndromes are the culmination of various conditions such as
cognitive dysfunction, functional impairment and others. These
conditions can affect how well a person with diabetes can care for
themselves.

Cognitive dysfunction such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and
others are two times more likely to affect a person with diabetes.
These conditions can range from subtleness to complete memory loss.

This means a person who has diabetes and a decline in their cognitive
abilities will be unable to properly care for themselves such as testing,
changing doses of insulin and taking care of their diet.

For that reason, older diabetic patient caregivers are advised to keep
constant track of the diabetes patient and monitor their blood sugar
levels to reduce the chance for hypoglycemia.

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