title: Diabetic kidney disease in elderly individuals.
abstract: The treatment of diabetic nephropathy in elderly individuals is based primarily on data from younger age groups. However, the assumption that the same treatment approaches for the younger age groups can be uniformly applied to elderly individuals is likely to be incorrect. The cornerstones of aggressive therapy for diabetic kidney disease in general may have drawbacks in elderly patients. For example, significant risks of tight glycemic control have emerged in recent studies. Excessive decrease of blood pressure to existing targets may be unsafe in elderly individuals. Limited data do indicate that renin-angiotensin blockade may be as effective and no riskier than in middle-aged diabetic kidney patients. Until further studies are carried out, it is prudent to treat the elderly patient with similar approaches as in younger patients, but tempered by the issues reviewed in this article. There is a growing need for the development of clinical guidelines to retool CKD management in the elderly diabetic population using both current and emerging therapies.
authors.affiliation: Renal Unit, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA. mark.williams@joslin.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D019468:Disease Management; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology; D054539:Medication Therapy Management; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012084:Renin-Angiotensin System / Q000187:drug effects; D020379:Risk Adjustment; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose