Plasma glucose goals and therapeutic management in elderly diabetic patients.

In the elderly diabetic patient, therapeutic decision making is not entirely based on evidence acquired from large-scale studies conducted in young adults. In this population autonomy, co-morbidity and prognosis are all objective parameters which must be taken into consideration. Frail patients run the risk of hypoglycaemia if the therapeutic goal is too strict. Frail patients can be distinguished from autonomous patients free of serious co-morbidity using evaluation scales validated for geriatric patients enabling the establishment of appropriate goals for the treatment of diabetes without compromising the patients' quality-of-life.