The burden of diabetes mellitus in elderly patients from an Asian tertiary hospital

Abstract Summary Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been declared as a global public health threat to society. However, the burden of the disease in elderly Asian patients has not been described. The aim of the study is to assess the disease burden of DM and its associated adverse outcomes in elderly patients from an Asian hospital using the hospital inpatient database. Methods Retrospective study of hospital discharge database from 2004 to 2008 to identify patients aged 65 years and above with DM and its associated ‘adverse outcomes’ using International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 9th Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-9-AM) codes. Results Of 89,875 hospitalized patients aged 65 years and above over the 5 years, 31,124 (34.6%) patients had DM, and the percentage of DM cases increased steadily from 34.3% to 35.6%. Prevalence of DM-associated adverse outcomes was higher in DM patients than in non-DM patients (53.8% vs. 31.5%, p < 0.001). For trends over time, the adverse outcomes decreased in both DM patients (58.1% to 53.6%) and non-DM patients (34.3% to 31.4%, all p < 0.001). All disease-specific adverse outcomes except renal disease decreased over time both in DM and non-DM patients (all p < 0.05). There were increased trends over time for renal disease in both DM patients (16.1% to 23.2%, p < 0.001) and non-DM patients (6.7% to 10.4%, p < 0.001). Conclusion The burden of DM in this group of elderly patients is high. Elderly patients with DM experienced much higher rates of the adverse outcomes.