Metabolic syndrome in elderly type 2 diabetics treated at an outpatient clinic in a Brazilian capital

Abstract

Aims: to identify the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its associated factors in the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: observational descriptive study conducted with elderly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus, in the period 2017-2018, recruited at the Nutrition / Diabetes Outpatient Clinic of the Elderly Care Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco. Gender and age group were collected, and for the anthropometric evaluation of the participants, the body mass index and waist circumference were measured. We also collected the values of total cholesterol and fractions, as well as fasting glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and previous diagnosis of hypertension. To analyze the obtained data, Student's t-test, Pearson's chi-square and Mann-Whitney test were used. For the analyzes, a confidence interval of 95% and a significance level of 0.05 were adopted. Results: the sample consisted of 273 participants, with a mean age of 68.77±5.65 years and 89.8% (n=158) presented metabolic syndrome. The presence of this condition was associated with higher values of body weight (p=0.04), body mass index (p= 0.003), waist circumference (p<0.001) and fasting blood glucose (p=0.007). Conclusions: there was a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the elderly studied with this condition associated with higher values of body weight, body mass index, waist circumference and fasting glucose. These findings demonstrate the importance of early identification and preventive intervention of these conditions in the elderly population, reducing morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular events and improving the quality of life in the elderly.