Older Years (65 Years and Older)
About 4.0 million women aged 65 years and older have diabetes; one-quarter of them do not know they have the disease. Most elderly women with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
Because women make up a greater proportion of the elderly population and women with diabetes live longer than their male counterparts, elderly women with diabetes outnumber elderly men with diabetes. Diabetes is one of the leading underlying causes of death among women aged 65 years and older.
Being older and having diabetes accelerate the development of diabetic complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and blindness. Elderly women with diabetes are at particularly high risk for coronary heart disease, visual problems, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, and depression.