Use of sulfonylurea agents in older diabetic patients.

The elderly patient with type II diabetes should be treated in much the same fashion as a younger person with the same disease, although emphasis needs to be placed on minimizing side effects, drug interactions, and hypoglycemia. Chlorpropamide should not be used in these patients, unless there is no other choice. The remaining agents--tolbutamide, acetohexamide, tolazamide, glyburide, and glipizide--should be started at low doses and gradually increased until optimal diabetic control is reached. The initial treatment goal is a FPG level of less than 180 mg/dl and a final goal is a 1- to 2-hour PPG concentration between 140 and 180 mg/dl. The glycosylated hemoglobin value should be no greater than 1.5% above the upper limit of normal, and should be lower, if possible. It must be kept in mind, however, that the closer diabetic patients are to achieving euglycemia, the more likely is hypoglycemia. Treatment goals therefore may have to be relaxed in someone at increased risk of hypoglycemia (e.g., patients with irregular eating habits or renal insufficiency) or when hypoglycemia may pose a greater hazard (e.g., patients with coronary artery or cerebral vascular disease). Patients on sulfonylurea agents should have blood glucose values measured once a month and glycosylated hemoglobin levels determined once every 3 months to alert the clinician to the possible need to adjust therapy. In this way, potential hypoglycemia can be avoided if blood glucose levels are drifting too low and chronic hyperglycemia can be identified and treated within a short period of time. When a patient's status changes--e.g., he is placed on new medication, becomes depressed and anorexic, or develops another medical problem--care must be taken to re-evaluate his diabetes management. Drugs such as sulfonamide antibiotics can potentiate the action of the sulfonylureas and cause hypoglycemia, renal insufficiency may necessitate changing the type of sulfonylurea agent or decreasing the dose, and malnutrition may obviate any need for therapy with an oral hypoglycemic agent. If these guidelines are kept in mind, the older diabetic patient can be managed on a sulfonylurea agent in conjunction with the appropriate diet. Should these measures prove to be ineffective, then insulin therapy should be instituted. Controlling chronic hyperglycemia will help improve the quality of life for patients with diabetes and decrease the probability of developing some of the devastating complications associated with this disease.