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Newly Diagnosed, Insulin‐dependent Diabetes Mellitus in Elderly Patients
Author(s) -
Kilvert A.,
FitzGerald M. G.,
Wright A. D.,
Nattrass M.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1984.tb01940.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , insulin , insulin dependent diabetes , pediatrics , endocrinology , autoimmune disease , disease
Over a two‐year period 398 out of 1776 new referrals to a diabetic clinic were newly diagnosed diabetic patients aged 65 years and over. Initial treatment of this group was diet—122 (31%), diet plus oral hypoglycaemic agents—232 (58%) and diet plus insulin—41 (10%). Sixteen (39%) of the group treated initially with insulin died within 3.5 years of diagnosis compared with 21% of the 345 patients treated with diet ±oral hypoglycaemic agents who were followed for this time. Twenty‐five patients treated initially with insulin survive but 8 have stopped insulin and are treated with diet ±oral hypoglycaemic agents, and a further 5 had a period of 6–24 months on oral therapy. Twelve patients have been treated with insulin continuously but of these only 3 are clearly insulin‐dependent. These data suggest that true dependence on insulin is uncommon in patients aged 65 years or over at diagnosis.