Diabetes Overtreatment and Hypoglycemia in Older Patients With Type 2 Diabetes on Insulin Therapy: Insights From the HYPOAGE Cohort Study
This study was undertaken as T2D overtreatment is a common condition in older people, tending to reflect more intensive treatment than needed. Surprisingly, the association between T2D overtreatment and hypoglycemia has never been studied. This is the first study to use CGM (continuous glucose monitor) data to explore overtreatment and hypoglycemia in older adults with T2D from prospective high quality multicenter data.
This was an ancillary study of the HYPOAGE Cohort Study which was conducted from November 2017 to March 2020 in six French clinics. Patient profile: > or = to 75 years, T2D >1 year, treated with glucose lowering therapy >6 months, with a baseline HbA1c and with >2 SMBG measurements per day. One hundred thirty-four participants (41% female, 81.6 +/- 5.4 years) were selected meeting study criteria and wore a CGM for 28 days. Data during this period were collected and analyzed. Two different proxy definitions of T2D Overtreatment were evaluated, these were taken from previous studies:
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Fixed Proxy Definition: HbA1c < 7.0% (53 mmol/mol)
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Individualized Proxy Definition: HbA1c <7.0% (53 mmol/mol),
<7.5% (58 mmol/mol) and <8.0% (64 mmol/mol) for patients in good, intermediate and poor health status, respectively.
Patients were placed into the individual proxy definition if they met Blaum Classification. Blaum Classification is a way to categorize older people with T2D based on their functional status. It is used to predict health outcomes and adjust diabetes management plans appropriately. Sixty-seven patients met the Fried criteria for frailty (weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, slowness and weakness), fifty-seven had malnutrition, 29 were nursing home residents. The researcher’s primary outcome was >1% TBR (time below range) or <70 per the CGM readings. The secondary outcomes were >1% of level 1 TBR (54-69 mg/dL), level 2 TBR (<54 mg/dL), and the occurrence of >1 hypoglycemic event (<70 mg/dL) as measured by SMBG. Conclusions show no association between the proxy definitions of diabetes overtreatment and occurrence of hypoglycemia in insulin treated older adults having T2D. The individualized definition fared better than the fixed definition, however there was no significant difference between the two. Diabetes overtreatment based on HbA1c could not predict hypoglycemia. The authors identify the main issue with these proxy definitions is a reliance solely on the HbA1c. Though HbA1c levels are effective in monitoring glycemic control over a designated time period, previous research has demonstrated a weak link between HbA1c and hypoglycemia. This study supports prior research. The authors challenge the use of these proxy definitions for the detection of hypoglycemia. More study is recommended and the necessity for a revised proxy definition is emphasized.
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