The clinical characteristics of Chinese elderly patients with different durations of type 2 diabetes mellitus

AIMS: To explore the clinical characteristics among elderly (aged ≥60 years) patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) of different durations. METHODS: Clinical characteristics were investigated in 3840 elderly T2DM patients according to their different durations of diabetes (< 1 year, 1~5 years, 5~10 years, and ≥ 10 years). Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests were used to assess the differences among groups for continuous variables. The chi-square and post hoc tests were carried out for dichotomous variables. The logistic regression was adopted to investigate the relationships between various durations of diabetes and the control rates of achieving the control targets for T2DM as well as diabetic vascular complications. RESULTS: There were 972, 896, 875 and 1097 patients with a duration of diabetes of <1, 1~5, 5~10 and ≥10 years, respectively. In logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, BMI, smoking and family history of diabetes, elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of ≥10 years were more likely to reach the comprehensive control targets for TC (OR(TC) = 1.36, 95% CI =1.14-1.63), LDL-C (OR(LDL-C) = 1.39, 95% CI =1.17-1.66), TG (OR(TG) = 1.76, 95% CI =1.46-2.12) and BMI (OR(BMI) = 1.82, 95% CI =1.52-2.18). Elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of 1~5 years were more likely to achieve the HbA1c control target (OR(HbA1c) = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.59-2.31) than elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of <1 year. Furthermore, in elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of 5~10 years or ≥ 10 years, the duration of diabetes was positively associated with diabetic macrovascular complications (coronary heart disease and peripheral artery disease). In elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of over 10 years, the duration of diabetes was associated with diabetes kidney disease (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It is worth noting that the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes in different durations of diabetes are different.