J Korean Diabetes JKD The Journal of Korean Diabetes 2233-7431 Korean Diabetes Association 10.4093/jkd.2019.20.4.220 Focused Issue Treatment Goals for Glycemia in Older Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Lim Jung Ah Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Corresponding author: Jung Ah Lim. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical Center, 245 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04564, Korea, drjalim@nmc.or.kr 12 2019 31 12 2019 20 4 220 224 22 10 2019 28 10 2019 Copyright © 2019 Korean Diabetes Association 2019 Korean Diabetes Association This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

More than 25% of Korean population aged ≥ 65 years has diabetes, and elderly diabetic patients show higher mortality, reduced functional activity, and increased risk of hospitalization. The care of elderly diabetic patients is complicated by their clinical, cognitive, and functional heterogeneity. Healthy patients with good functional status can be treated using therapeutic interventions and goals similar those for younger adults with diabetes. For patients with complications and reduced functionality, intensive glycemic control should be avoided. Glycemic goals for older patients might be individualized so that treatment can achieve the appropriate balance between glycemic control and risk of hypoglycemia.

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