The agreement between measured HbA1c and optimized target HbA1c based on the Dementia Assessment Sheet for Community‐based Integrated Care System 8‐items (DASC‐8): A cross‐sectional study of elderly patients with diabetes

Aim To investigate the achievement of individualized target HbA1c based on the Japanese guideline after geriatric assessment with the Dementia Assessment Sheet for Community‐based Integrated Care System 8‐items (DASC‐8) and to evaluate patient characteristics acting as barriers to achieving the target HbA1c in elderly outpatients with diabetes. Methods This cross‐sectional study enrolled 303 Japanese outpatients aged ≥65 years with diabetes. Their health status was measured using the DASC‐8. The target HbA1c was optimized for each patient by the guideline based on the DASC‐8 score and use of drugs potentially associated with severe hypoglycemia. Patient characteristics related to the agreement between measured HbA1c and target HbA1c were extracted by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results The mean age was 73.0 years and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.2 kg/m2. The agreement between measured HbA1c and target HbA1c was 43.9% (95% confidence interval: 38.4%–50.0%). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the agreement in patients with drugs potentially associated with severe hypoglycemia was significantly lower than in those without these drugs (37.8% vs. 60.5%, P = 0.0004). In patients with these drugs, higher BMI (P = 0.0271) and higher fasting plasma glucose (P = 0.0034) were independent related factors for measured HbA1c being higher than target HbA1c. Vulnerable elderly patients (P = 0.0116) and not taking sodium glucose co‐transporter‐2 (SGLT2) inhibitor (P = 0.0186) were independent related factors for inappropriately lower HbA1c. Conclusions The agreement between measured HbA1c and target HbA1c was low in elderly patients with diabetes. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 560–567. We demonstrated the actual state of the achievement of individualized target HbA1c after evaluating patient characteristics appropriately by using the DASC‐8 for elderly outpatients with complex and diverse characteristics in a real‐world clinical practice. The agreement between measured HbA1c and target HbA1c was only 43.9%.