Diabetes in the Elderly: A Snapshot According to the CDC’s National Diabetes Statistics Report, 29.1 million people, or the 9.3 percent of the U.S. population, have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes. Of those, 11.2 million are adults age 65 or older, which has major implications for long-term care.1 The report also included the following statistics1: In 2012, 400,000 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in adults 65 years and older. Thirty-seven percent of adults aged 20 or older had prediabetes; of that group, 51 percent were age 65 or older. The total yearly cost of diabetes in the U.S. is estimated at $245 billion. Of that, $176 billion is spent on direct medical costs while $69 billion is spent on indirect costs including disability, work loss and premature death. The American Medical Association (AMA) and CDC have partnered to launch Prevent Diabetes STAT, an evidence-based diabetes prevention program aimed at helping individuals and facilities prevent type 2 diabetes. The program challenges providers to screen residents for prediabetes, test at-risk residents using an approved blood test and then encourage residents with prediabetes to follow a diabetes prevention program. Healthcare providers can download a program toolkit here that includes a fact sheet, diabetes risk assessment questionnaire for use with residents, posters, handouts and more. Professional Medical proudly offers the CareSens N blood glucose monitoring system, which provides safe, convenient and painless results. To learn more about this system and our other diabetes management products, contact your ProMed territory manager, give us a call at (800) 648-5190 or visit us online at promedsupply.com. Reference 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf. Accessed April 15, 2015.

Researchers: Reagan’s Speeches Reveal Alzheimer’s Clues Researchers at Arizona State University say they have uncovered subtle hints of early dementia in some of the speeches Ronald Reagan gave before he was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Specifically, the researchers uncovered anomalies in the President’s speeches, such as use of repetitive words and substituting nonspecific terms such as “thing” for specific nouns. To pinpoint the patterns, they used an algorithm that analyzes changes in speech patterns.

The researchers point out that their findings do not provide any evidence that Reagan was impaired while he was in office. Instead, they hope their results could provide tools to spot the disease years before symptoms become clinically evident. To learn more, click here.

The CareSens N Blood Glucose Monitoring System provides you with safe, convenient and painless blood glucose diagnostic monitoring. Accurate results can be obtained in just five seconds using a small blood sample. This package contains one CareSens N Blood Glucose Meter, an owner’s booklet, a quick reference guide and two 3V batteries. Additional features: 0.5 μL sample size No coding required Options for fingertip, palm or forearm testing Pre-/post-meal flagging and averaging Alarm can be set with up to three times 250 test memory Transmission port 14-day test averaging (total, pre-meal and post-meal) WARRANTY: Five-year limited

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