The same glycemic targets apply to otherwise healthy elderly as to younger people with diabetes.
In older patients with diabetes of several years' duration and established complications, intensive control reduces the risk of microvascular events but does not reduce macrovascular events or mortality (23–25).
However, better glycemic control appears to be associated with less disability and better function (26,27).
It is known that postprandial glucose values are a better predictor of outcome in elderly patients with diabetes than A1C or preprandial glucose values. Recently, it has been demonstrated that older patients with type 2 diabetes who have survived an acute myocardial infarction may have a lower risk for a subsequent cardiovascular (CV) event with targeting of postprandial vs. fasting/preprandial glycemia (28).
In patients with equivalent glycemic control, greater variability of glucose values is associated with worse cognition (29).