Hospital Outcomes in Older People with Diabetes

Abstract

Given there is little data about hospital outcome in people with diabetes aged beyond 75, this study aimed to explore the association of diabetes with hospital outcome of patients aged greater than 85 years (85+) and compare their outcomes with those aged between 65 and 85 years. A retrospective review was conducted of the first presentation of patients age 65 years or more admitted to a Sydney teaching hospital over a 5 year period (2012-2017) exploring the outcomes of length of stay, mortality, the development of hospital acquired adverse events and unplanned re-admission to hospital within 28 days of discharge. Demographic and outcome data, the presence of diabetes and co-morbidities was determined from ICD10 coding within the hospital’s electronic medical record. Logistic, negative binomial and Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to assess association of diabetes with outcome. Of the 26673 people, 25.7% had diabetes. When compared to people without diabetes aged 85+, diabetes was not associated with increased length of stay (p=0.312), hospital acquired adverse events (p=0.374) or unplanned readmission (p=0.889). Further, people with diabetes had lower rates of mortality than those without diabetes in the 85 + years group (5.2% V 7.1%, p=0.003). Similarly, hazard ratios were significantly higher in the non-diabetic group (2.6 V 3.7, p=0.006). Diabetes has not been shown to have a negative impact on mortality, length of stay, hospital acquired adverse events and readmission in people aged 85 + years.