Around one in three people admitted to nursing homes in Ireland has type 2 diabetes, however the treatment of this condition within the nursing home setting can prove complex and challenging, doctors have warned.

Some 4,000 people aged 65 and older currently reside in nursing homes and this figure is expected to increase due to our ageing population.

According to doctors in Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, an estimated one-third of nursing home residents already have type 2 diabetes when they are admitted and this can present major challenges to healthcare providers.

There are many diabetes-related complications, such as diabetic retinopathy (eye disease), neuropathy (nerve disease), kidney disease and foot ulceration. The doctors pointed out that older people with increased frailty ‘are more susceptible to diabetic complications'.

"Hence the management of type 2 diabetes in elderly residents in nursing homes can pose a unique challenge," they said.

They noted that older people admitted to nursing homes with type 2 diabetes often also have at least one other condition, such as heart failure.

"Therefore, they are at increased risk of short-term and atypical complications of diabetes, such as falls, dehydration, poor wound healing, skin ulcers, weight loss, urinary incontinence and pain syndromes, all of which result in poor quality of life and poor health outcomes," they explained.

The doctors also noted that dementia is ‘progressively being linked to type 2 diabetes as a cause and complication'.

They pointed out that current guidelines recommend ‘individualised diabetes care plans for elderly people with an interdisciplinary approach'. These individualised plans have been shown to improve outcomes in this complex population of patients, they added.

The doctors made their comments in the journal, Professional Diabetes & Cardiology Review.