Undiagnosed Diabetes in an Elderly Population

A considerable number of people with diabetes mellitus (DM) are age 65 or older, and many elderly people with DM do not display such classic DM symptoms as polyuria and polydipsia due to age-related malfunction of the mechanisms leading to these disease signs. Other signs of DM may be masked by comorbid conditions or chalked up to aging, and cognitive decline can make diagnosis even more difficult. Only when DM complications become present, and when fasting plasma glucose levels are significantly elevated, is the disease recognized. With these factors in mind, researchers at Meir Medical Center, Kjar Saba; Frieda Schiff Warburg Geriatric Center, Netanya; Meuhedet Health Care System, Shomron District; and the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, Ramat Aviv, all in Israel, conducted a study to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed DM among elderly patients in long-term care who receive enteral nutrition and have severe cognitive problems.