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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging pp 1–8Cite as

Diabetes Management in Older Adults

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Synonyms

Management of high blood sugar; Management of impaired glucose tolerance

Definition

Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of metabolic disorders related to increased glucose in the blood and decreased or impaired insulin (a hormone made by the pancreas) production or utilization. There are three major types of diabetes that are chronic and require management: (1) prediabetes, (2) type 1 diabetes, and (3) type 2 diabetes.

Overview

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), the most prevalent type, occurs when the body does not properly process insulin (either does not produce enough or cannot utilize the available insulin) (see “Diabetes Mellitus”). Symptoms of T2DM include extreme thirst, frequent urination, blurry vision, and fatigue. T2DM is commonly diagnosed using the hemoglobin (A1C) test. The A1C is a blood test used to determine the average blood glucose level over the past 3 months. A level of 5.7 or below is considered normal, and 5.8–6.4% is classified as prediabetes. A value of 6.5% or...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

    Lauren M. Schneider

  2. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

    Leilani Feliciano

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

    Nicole Beutell

Authors
  1. Lauren M. Schneider
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  2. Leilani Feliciano
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  3. Nicole Beutell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leilani Feliciano .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, UN Dept of Economic Social Affairs Population Division, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mari Armstrong-Hough

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Schneider, L.M., Feliciano, L., Beutell, N. (2019). Diabetes Management in Older Adults. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_812-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_812-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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