How to treat diabetes in the elderly?

Written by Zhou Yan
Geriatrics
Updated on March 19, 2025
00:00
00:00

For elderly patients with diabetes, our long-term treatment goal is to delay the onset and progression of chronic diabetic complications, maintain good health and self-care ability, improve quality of life, and extend healthy lifespan through good metabolic control. The short-term goal is to control hyperglycemia and its metabolic disorders, eliminate the symptoms of diabetes, and prevent acute severe metabolic disorders. Our "five-pronged" approach to diabetes management is also suitable for elderly patients, including diabetes education, medical nutrition therapy, exercise therapy, blood glucose monitoring, and medication therapy. Therefore, for elderly diabetic patients, it is essential to keep blood glucose levels within a controllable range, delay the onset of complications, and provide a healthy twilight years for elderly diabetics.

Other Voices

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Zhao Dan
Orthopedics
2min 5sec home-news-image

Gestational diabetes standards

Before addressing this question, let's first clarify another concept: if diabetes is diagnosed before pregnancy, this is referred to as pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy, which is different from gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes refers to cases where there is no pre-existing diabetes diagnosis before pregnancy, but abnormal blood glucose levels are detected after becoming pregnant. Generally, a glucose screening test is conducted between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. Currently in China, there are two approaches: the one-step and the two-step methods. The one-step method involves a direct 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test. However, most of China uses the two-step method, which starts with a 50-gram glucose challenge test. If the blood glucose level one hour after eating is greater than or equal to 7.8 mmol/L, a 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test is recommended. For the 75-gram glucose test, the fasting blood glucose level should generally be less than or equal to 5.6 mmol/L, one hour post-glucose intake should be 10.3 mmol/L, two hours post-glucose should be 8.6 mmol/L, and three hours post-glucose should be 6.7 mmol/L. If two or more of these values exceed the diagnostic criteria, gestational diabetes can be diagnosed. If only one value is abnormal, impaired glucose tolerance can be diagnosed. It is recommended that anyone who experiences abnormal blood glucose levels during pregnancy undergo another 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test six months post-pregnancy to determine if blood glucose levels are still abnormal and whether treatment should continue.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Lin Xiang Dong
Endocrinology
37sec home-news-image

Care of diabetic foot

The care of diabetic foot is very important. In our daily life, we need to do the following aspects. First, regularly wash and check both feet. During washing, the water temperature should not be too high. Also, keep the skin moist to prevent it from drying and cracking. Second, choose suitable shoes and socks, preferably loose-fitting to avoid tightness. Third, be careful when trimming toenails, making sure not to damage the skin of the feet. If there are any sores, go to the hospital immediately for treatment. Fourth, avoid using corrosive chemicals on the feet.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Yang Li
Endocrinology
1min 12sec home-news-image

Care for diabetic foot

The first fundamental step is monitoring blood glucose; good control of blood glucose levels is essential for the effective management of diabetic foot problems. Secondly, attention must be paid to the protection of the wound. It's crucial to keep the wound clean, perform regular cleaning and disinfection, and when necessary, debride necrotic tissue thoroughly. For instance, if there is a sinus tract or deep ulceration, it is essential to open the wound and ensure drainage, removing all necrotic tissue inside. Thirdly, footwear choice is critical for patients with diabetic foot; it is important to wear shoes that are loose fitting, moderately soft yet firm, and capable of evenly distributing pressure across the footbed. There are shoes specially designed for those with diabetic foot, and these can be custom-made. Other considerations include maintaining good blood pressure control and ensuring adequate nutrition to support wound healing, including sufficient protein intake, which plays a vital role in promoting wound repair.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Lin Xiang Dong
Endocrinology
42sec home-news-image

Gestational diabetes indicators

Gestational diabetes refers to the absence of a diabetes history before pregnancy, but during pregnancy screening (Tang screening), blood sugar abnormalities are discovered. At this point, the diagnosis of gestational diabetes is made. The criteria for diagnosing gestational diabetes are based on a diabetes screening test conducted at 24-28 weeks. If the fasting blood glucose is ≥5.1, one-hour blood glucose is ≥10.0, or two-hour blood glucose is ≥8.5, meeting any one of these criteria is sufficient for a gestational diabetes diagnosis.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Li Hui Zhi
Endocrinology
44sec home-news-image

How to reduce swelling in diabetic foot

How to reduce swelling in diabetic foot depends on the condition of the swelling. If the swelling is due to a wound on the diabetic foot causing localized redness and swelling, this condition needs anti-infective treatment. It is recommended to culture the wound secretion and choose a sensitive antibiotic; if the swelling is diffuse in the foot, it is also recommended to perform an ultrasound of the lower limb vessels, including arteries and veins. If this indicates poor venous return in the lower limbs or venous thrombosis, treatment to prevent thrombosis and improve venous return should also be added.