Diabetes in the Elderly: A Snapshot

According to the CDC’s National Diabetes Statistics Report, 29.1 million people, or the 9.3 percent of the U.S. population, have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes. Of those, 11.2 million are adults age 65 or older, which has major implications for long-term care.1

The report also included the following statistics1:

• In 2012, 400,000 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in adults 65 years and older.
• Thirty-seven percent of adults aged 20 or older had prediabetes; of that group, 51 percent were age 65 or older.
• The total yearly cost of diabetes in the U.S. is estimated at $245 billion. Of that, $176 billion is spent on direct medical costs while $69 billion is spent on indirect costs including disability, work loss and premature death.

The American Medical Association (AMA) and CDC have partnered to launch Prevent Diabetes STAT, an evidence-based diabetes prevention program aimed at helping individuals and facilities prevent type 2 diabetes. The program challenges providers to screen residents for prediabetes, test at-risk residents using an approved blood test and then encourage residents with prediabetes to follow a diabetes prevention program. Healthcare providers can download a program toolkit here that includes a fact sheet, diabetes risk assessment questionnaire for use with residents, posters, handouts and more.

Professional Medical proudly offers the CareSens N blood glucose monitoring system, which provides safe, convenient and painless results. To learn more about this system and our other diabetes management products, contact your ProMed territory manager, give us a call at (800) 648-5190 or visit us online at promedsupply.com.

Reference
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf. Accessed April 15, 2015.