Endocrine Abstracts

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) has been used as a clinically significant evaluation tool for analyses regarding glycemic control. Guidelines recommend patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) should aim for an A1C≤7.0%, but real world data is limited in the elderly regarding outcomes associated with different A1C levels.

A thousand six hundred Turkish cases were enrolled in this study. The mean age of the patients was 57 (17 to 91) years. The mean HbA1c value of the cases was 8.05±2.28. The mean HbA1c values were 8.23±2.4 for males (n=583) and 7.94±2.2 for females (n=1017). This difference was statistically significant (P=0.013). HbA1c value was below targeted value (7%) in 43% of the cases.

The mean HbA1c values were 6.19±0.45 for the patients with HbA1c <7 (n=693) and 9.46±2.09 for the cases HbA1c >7 (n=907). A strong positive correlation was detected between age and HbA1c (P<0.001, r=0.089).

The mean age was 55.9±13.78 in the patients with <7 HbA1c value and it was 58.39±11.4 in the cases with >7 HbA1c. This difference was significant (P<0.001).

The mean HbA1c values were 8.04±2.33 for the patients below 65 and 8.07±2.16 for geriatric cases. There is no statistically significant difference between geriatric patients and the cases below 65 (P>0.05).

The strong correlation between age and HbA1c may be of the increase of comorbid disorders, reduced hospital application in older age and decrease of therapeutic compliance. This hypothesis should be needed validation through randomized controlled trials.