Medicines and older people with diabetes: beliefs, benefits and risks

Most older people with diabetes use multiple medicines (polypharmacy). Polypharmacy can be thoughtful and appropriate or ad hoc and inappropriate. Medicine-related errors and adverse events are common causes of preventable hospital admissions for older people. Medicine-related adverse events also occur in hospital. Hypoglycaemia is the most significant adverse event associated with glucose lowering medicines and can occur at any blood glucose level. Medicine self-management becomes challenging with increasing age, functional, sensory and cognitive changes, access to health services and costs. Blood glucose monitoring can be a useful management guide if it reflects the action profile of the prescribed glucose lowering medicines.