Pragmatic diabetes management in nursing homes: individual care plan.

Although the management of diabetes as a simple entity has been extensively developed, there is a dearth of evidence in elderly, frail patients with multiple comorbidities and polymedication. This population represents a large proportion of the residents of nursing homes (NHs). As a multidisciplinary group of French experts (geriatricians, endocrinologists, diabetologists, and general practitioners) with practical experience in this area, which is growing in magnitude throughout the world, we convened to compile pragmatic, simple advice on the management of elderly, frail diabetic patients. Given demands on NH personnel (manager, medical coordinator, nurses, and, at the front line of care provision, the undertrained and overworked carers), coupled with the quasiconstant of high staff turnover, the foundation stone of a patient's diabetes management is an Individual Care Plan (ICP) expressed in layman's language. This document that is opened on the patient's admission aims to make sure that the prescriptions established at admission are followed, notably to ensure correct treatment and adapted, regular monitoring with dates and times when examinations and tests are due. This includes monitoring of the diabetes control (HbA1c and, if necessary, blood and urine glucose) and its complications (cardiovascular disease, hypoglycemia, ocular problems, foot disorders, malnutrition, peripheral neuropathy, kidney failure). A necessary corollary is the training of staff to understand the specificities of caring for a frail patient with diabetes, on what to do in a potential emergency, and how to keep the ICP up to date for consultation by doctors and nurses.

The type and the position of HNF1A mutation modulate age at diagnosis of diabetes in patients with maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY)-3.

OBJECTIVE: The clinical expression of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY)-3 is highly variable. This may be due to environmental and/or genetic factors, including molecular characteristics of the hepatocyte nuclear factor 1-alpha (HNF1A) gene mutation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed the mutations identified in 356 unrelated MODY3 patients, including 118 novel mutations, and searched for correlations between the genotype and age at diagnosis of diabetes. RESULTS: Missense mutations prevailed in the dimerization and DNA-binding domains (74%), while truncating mutations were predominant in the transactivation domain (62%). The majority (83%) of the mutations were located in exons 1- 6, thus affecting the three HNF1A isoforms. Age at diagnosis of diabetes was lower in patients with truncating mutations than in those with missense mutations (18 vs. 22 years, P = 0.005). Missense mutations affecting the dimerization/DNA-binding domains were associated with a lower age at diagnosis than those affecting the transactivation domain (20 vs. 30 years, P = 10(-4)). Patients with missense mutations affecting the three isoforms were younger at diagnosis than those with missense mutations involving one or two isoforms (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These data show that part of the variability of the clinical expression in MODY3 patients may be explained by the type and the location of HNF1A mutations. These findings should be considered in studies for the search of additional modifier genetic factors.