Many Older Adults Fail to Place High Importance on Diabetes Treatment Guidelines

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found many older adults are undervaluing factors recommended by guidelines to personalize diabetes treatment, reports Docwire News . The survey involved 818 participants categorized into situations about adding or subtracting diabetes medications from treatment plans. Subjects rated the value of seven factors — diabetes duration, established diabetes complications, other health conditions, life expectancy, risk of adverse effects, cost, and treatment effort — in treatment decisions using yes/no responses and the best-worst scaling method to measure the variables' relative importance. The subjects also answered questions on how different levels of each factor were linked to compliance with diabetes treatment. In all, 410 participants answered questions about adding medicine, while 408 participants answered questions about discontinuing medicine. Of the factors to mull for adding a medication, participants who considered each factor important ranged in number from 197 to 263. Those same factors were considered vital by just 29 to 146 participants when deciding to stop medication. All participants deemed the risk of adverse effects the most important factor, but contradicted current guideline recommendations by thinking that those with longer disease duration, more established complications, and more additional health conditions merit more aggressive treatment.