title: [Diabetic complications and their features in the elderly].
abstract: According to great increase in the number of patients with diabetes mellitus, especially in the elderly, it is important to know clinical features of diabetic complications in the elderly. In this review, we described elderly-specific clinical characteristics of diabetic complications. First, duration of diabetes in the elderly has a broad range, and as a consequence, elderly patients exhibit a remarkable heterogeneity in their complication status. Second, as acute complications, hyperglycemic coma and hypoglycemia are especially at high risk in the elderly. Third, as for chronic complications, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, diabetic foot, stroke as well as ischemic heart disease, several features in the elderly patients are different from those in the non-elderly. Since these complications affect both quality of life and prognosis of the elderly, understanding these elderly-specific characteristics of diabetic complications would be necessary in the management of diabetes in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogihara
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies; D003926:Diabetic Coma; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life