Pharmacological Therapy of Diabetes in the Elderly / 임상당뇨병

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is expected to increase in the geriatric group with increasing incidence of diabetes with aging and improved life expectancy. Therefore, effective and safe treatment of older T2DM patients is becoming more important in clinical practice. The elderly show heterogeneous individual functional status, and some may have physical handicaps, visual defects, cognitive dysfunction, or psychological disorders such as depression. Therefore, individual approaches depending on presence and progression of geriatric syndromes, comorbidities, and risk of hypoglycemia are important in pharmacological treatment of T2DM in older patients.

Past and Current Status of Adult Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Management in Korea: A National Health Insurance Service Database Analysis

Korea's National Healthcare Program, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), a government-affiliated agency under the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, covers the entire Korean population. The NHIS supervises all medical services in Korea and establishes a systematic National Health Information database (DB). A health information DB system including all of the claims, medications, death information, and health check-ups, both in the general population and in patients with various diseases, is not common worldwide. On June 9, 2014, the NHIS signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Diabetes Association (KDA) to provide limited open access to its DB. By October 31, 2017, seven papers had been published through this collaborative research project. These studies were conducted to investigate the past and current status of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications and management in Korea. This review is a brief summary of the collaborative projects between the KDA and the NHIS over the last 3 years. According to the analysis, the national health check-up DB or claim DB were used, and the age category or study period were differentially applied.