International work

IAG and AMDA Position Statement

In 2011, an international group of diabetes experts participated in several roundtables (Frankfurt and Oxford) and teleconferences to produce a ‘Position Statement’ on best clinical practice in diabetes in older people. This initiative led by IDOP was supported by the International Association of Gerontology (IAG) and the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) in the US.

Purpose of the ‘Position Statement’:

The purpose of the Position Statement is to:

(1)   arrive at a consensus on how we approach the management of key issues of diabetes care for older people

(2)   identify a series of key areas for diabetes-related surveys and/or audits of clinical care within a range of countries. These may take the form of surveys of particular drug usage, mortality and co-morbidity rates, models of care, and use of clinical guidelines in clinical-decision-making.

(3)   recommend up to  three to four research areas which could be considered for further investigation using selected research tools, and which could  form the basis of one or more collaborative research proposals.

Eight domains of interest were initially agreed and discussed: Hypoglycaemia, Therapy, Care Home diabetes, Influence of Co-morbidities, Glucose targets, Family/carer perspectives, Diabetes education, and Patient safety.

This work is currently being considered for endorsement by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).  A Full Report of this work will be available on the IDOP website in January 2012.

IAG Global Initiative on Diabetes and Older People

The President of the IAG, Professor Bruno Vellas (Toulouse, France), has agreed to support a global initiative on diabetes care for older people and has asked Professor Alan Sinclair, IDOP Director, to lead this project. The Scientific Coordinator for this work has been named as Professor Leo Rodriguez Manas of Madrid, Spain. This work will be centred initially on educational initiatives to enhance the knowledge and skills of health professionals engaged in delivering diabetes care to the elderly, but will also provide resources such as an educational DVD to increase the insight of other professions involved with older people, including scientists.

Other aspects of this work will involve developing best clinical practice across the globe, identifying key audit activity to promote local diabetes care, and setting the scene for international collaborative research.

The preparatory phase of this work has already begun and a progress report will be provided on the IDOP website in February 2012.