Glycosylated hemoglobin and functional decline in community-dwelling nursing home-eligible elderly adults with diabetes mellitus

Objectives

To determine whether glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels predict functional decline in older adults.

Design

Longitudinal cohort study.

Participants

Community‐dwelling, nursing home (NH)‐eligible individuals with diabetes mellitus enrolled at On Lok between October 2002 and December 2008 (367 participants, 1,579 HbA1c measurements).

Setting

On Lok Lifeways, the original model for Programs of All‐Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Measurements

The outcomes were functional decline or death at 2 years. The primary predictor was HbA1c. Age, sex, race and ethnicity, baseline function, comorbid conditions, length of time enrolled at On Lok, insulin use, and clustering of HbA1c within participants were adjusted for with mixed‐effects Poisson regression.

Results

Mean age was 80, and 185 participants (50%) were taking insulin. Sixty‐three percent of participants experienced functional decline, and 75% experienced death or functional decline during the study period. At 2 years, higher HbA1c was associated with less functional decline or death (P for trend = .006). Accounting for clustering and confounding factors, HbA1c of 8.0% to 8.9% was associated with a lower likelihood (relative risk = 0.88, 95% confidence interval = 0.79–0.99) of functional decline or death than HbA1c of 7.0% to 7.9%.

Conclusion

In community‐dwelling, NH‐eligible individuals with diabetes mellitus, HbA1c of 8.0% to 8.9% is associated with better functional outcomes at 2 years than HbA1c of 7.0% to 7.9%, suggesting that the current American Geriatrics Society guideline recommending a HbA1c target of 8.0% or less for older adults with limited life expectancy may be lower than necessary to maintain function.     

Effect of pulmonary exacerbations on long-term lung function decline in cystic fibrosis

It is unknown what proportion of long-term lung function decline in cystic fibrosis (CF) is explained by pulmonary exacerbations. The aim of this study was to determine how exacerbations requiring hospitalisation contribute to the course of CF lung disease. This was a retrospective cohort study. The primary outcome was the rate of decline of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) % predicted. Out of 851 subjects, 415 (48.8%) subjects had ≥ 1 exacerbation. After adjustment for confounders, the annual rate of FEV(1) decline in those without an exacerbation was 1.2% per yr (95% CI 1.0-1.5), compared with 2.5% per yr (95% CI 2.1-2.8) in those with an exacerbation. The proportion of overall FEV(1) decline associated with ≥ 1 exacerbation was 52% (95% CI 35.0-68.9). For a given number of exacerbations, the annual rate of FEV(1) decline was greatest in subjects with ≤ 6 months between exacerbations. Half of FEV(1) decline seen in CF patients was associated with pulmonary exacerbations. Time between exacerbations, specifically ≤ 6 months between exacerbations, plays an important contribution to overall lung function decline. These findings support using time to next exacerbation as a clinical end-point for CF trials.     

Changes in circumpapillary retinal vessel density after acute primary angle closure episode via OCT angiography

Purpose

To investigate the changes and evaluate the diagnosis value of circumpapillary vessel density (VD) in cases of acute primary angle closure (APAC).

Design

Case–control study.

Methods

APAC patients with a history of unilateral acute attack were enrolled. The eyes with acute episode constituted the case group while the contralateral eyes without attack consisted of the control group. Ophthalmic examinations including slit-lamp examination, best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure and visual field were carried out. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) were measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, while VD was assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography.

Results

The whole en face image vessel density (wiVD), circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) and inside disk VD for both all vessels and capillary were all significantly lower in the APAC eyes compared to the fellow eyes (P?<?0.01 for all). In APAC eyes, the wiVD, inside disk VD and cpVD both for all vessels and capillary were all positively correlated with RNFL and GCC thicknesses but negatively correlated with the mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD) and the duration of acute attack (all P?<?0.01). From the ROC curve, the cpVD_cap, wiVD_cap, cpVD_all and wiVD_all all showed comparable diagnostic ability with RNFL, GCC and MD to differentiate eyes with APAC from the fellow eyes (all P?>?0.05). The inside disk VD_cap and VD_all demonstrated significant lower diagnostic ability than the cpVD_cap, wiVD_cap, cpVD_all and wiVD_all (all P?<?0.001).

Conclusions

In APAC eyes, circumpapillary VD decreased significantly compared with the fellow unaffected eyes. They were significantly correlated with thicknesses of RNFL and GCC, and visual field MD and PSD in the APAC eyes. The patients with longer duration of acute attack were more likely to have lower cpVD. For APAC, the diagnostic ability of wiVD and cpVD was similar with RNFL, GCC and MD and was higher than inside disk VD.