Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in elderly patients received enteral nutrition long-term care service

The purpose of this study was to determinate the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (UDM) using glycated hemoglobin (GHb) among functionally dependent and severe cognitive depressed elderly long-term care (LTC) patients received enteral nutrition. The patients were divided into three categories: control, patients with (diabetes mellitus, DM) and without previously diagnoses (UDM) of DM. Demographic, functional and cognitive status, laboratory data and rate of death were recorded. Patients with HbA-1c level of 7% and more were diagnosed as diabetic. On the baseline, 26% of the patients presented with known DM. Patients from control and previously UDM groups presented with similar fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and post-prandial glucose (PPG) levels, but were different by HbA-1c levels (p < 0.001). In 79% of patients suffering from UDM, HbA-1c levels was more than 7%, and in 24% of them more than 8%. Prevalence of UDM was 21%. Patients from UDM were presented as borderline group between Control group (C-G) and DM. Those differences presented by all general characteristics of the patients: age, functional and cognitive status, BMI, comorbidity, laboratory data and rate of death. This study suggests that 47% of LTC patients who received enteral nutrition suffered from DM, and 44% of them were undiagnosed. The authors recommend that the GHb is a simple and an effective laboratory analysis in detection of DM in this group of patients.