title: Diabetes mellitus in centenarians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in centenarians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional, population-based.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four counties in northern Georgia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred forty-four centenarians (aged 98-108, 15.8% male, 20.5% African American, 38.0% community dwelling) from the Georgia Centenarian Study (2001-2009).
  
  
  METHODS
  Nonfasting blood samples assessed glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) and relevant clinical parameters. Demographic, diagnosis, and DM complication covariates were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  12.5% of centenarians were known to have DM. DM was more prevalent in African Americans (27.7%) than whites (8.6%, P < .001). There were no differences between men (16.7%) and women (11.7%, P = .41) or between centenarians living in the community (10.2%) and in facilities (13.9%, P = .54). DM was more prevalent in overweight and obese (23.1%) than nonoverweight (7.1%, P = .002) centenarians. Anemia (78.6% vs 48.3%, P = .004) and hypertension (79.3% vs 58.6%, P = .04) were more prevalent in centenarians with DM than in those without, and centenarians with DM took more nonhypoglycemic medications (8.6 vs 7.0, P = .02). No centenarians with HbA(1c) of less than 6.5% had random serum glucose levels greater than 200 mg/dL. DM was not associated with 12-month all-cause mortality, visual impairment, amputations, cardiovascular disease, or neuropathy. Thirty-seven percent of centenarians reported onset before age 80 (survivors), 47% between age 80 and 97 (delayers), and 15% aged 98 and older (escapers).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality but is seen in persons who live into very old age. Aside from higher rates of anemia and use of more medications, few clinical correlates of DM were observed in centenarians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA. adavey@temple.edu
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.forename: Uday
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lele
authors.forename: Merrill F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Elias
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dore
authors.forename: Ilene C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Siegler
authors.forename: Mary A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Dorothy B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Hausman
authors.forename: J Lisa
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tenover
authors.forename: Leonard W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Poon
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric