Are you an older adult with diabetes, or a caregiver to an older person who has this disease? The odds are good that you are. Today, more than one in every four Americans aged 65 and older has diabetes. And this is cause for concern. Diabetes can cause serious complications—including high blood pressure, depression, nerve pain, and difficulty thinking and remembering. But there’s some good news: Researchers and healthcare providers are learning more about how to help older adults with diabetes stay as healthy as possible.
This month the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) published a new guideline (The American Geriatrics Society Guidelines for Improving the Care of Older Adults with Diabetes Mellitus: 2013 Update), to help healthcare professionals improve care for older people with diabetes. And based on the guideline, the Healthinaging.org has created two easy-to-read tip-sheets.
One of the tip-sheets offers up-to-date, expert advice about living with diabetes in later life. The other summarizes the latest recommendations for managing the complications of diabetes. [Click on the underlined words to see the tip sheets.]
We hope you will find this information helpful, and encourage you to talk to your healthcare provider about how you can put it to use. Please help us spread the word and share this news with other older people who have diabetes.