Drug treatment in elderly diabetic.

ABSTRACT

Diabetes causes greater decline in physical and functional status in elderly diabetic than in a younger one. Also the rise of MI, stroke and hypertension is also higher. In elderly diabetics management is always on challenging task due to atypical disease presentation, classical symptoms often absent, presence of other coexisting conditions delays the diagnosis, dietary advice not followed properly and due to non-compliance of drug therapy. The antidiabetic drugs which are often used are sulfonylureas, metformin, thiazolidinediones, meglitinides, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, insulin. Advantages and disadvantages of these drugs are discussed in a nutshell. Moreover control of hypertension, CAD risk reduction and practice pearls eg, lifestyle changes and goals setting for HbA(1c) are important.