Special considerations in the therapeutic education of elderly with diabetes mellitus type 2

Abstract

Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is an essential part of effective and safe treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus (DM). Though the data on DSME effectiveness in elderly are limited, all patients should be educated regardless of age. The form of learning and education program may vary depending on the clinical situation and the patient’s characteristics. Age-related problems, so-called geriatric syndromes, determinant heterogeneity of elderly diabetic population. Geriatric syndromes should be taken into account to choose proper treatment goals and optimal education programs. Functional dependency, cognitive decline, depression, sarcopenia, malnutrition and polypharmacy seems to be most important in the education context. The development of geriatric education program with a broad focus on solving both diabetic and age-related problems and its implementation on a wider range of institutions may be useful to improve diabetes self-management education of elderly in clinical practice. It is also necessary to initiate clinical studies to evaluate DSME effectiveness in elderly not only from the generally accepted diabetological criteria, but also considering its impact on age-related problems.