Abstract: Objective To investigate the glycometabolic characteristics of the elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complicated with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and(or) cataract (CAT). Methods A total of 386 elderly patients with T2DM who were hospitalized in the Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from July 2019 to September 2021 were enrolled in this study. They were divided into CAT group (163 cases), DR group (15 cases) and CAT+DR group (208 cases) according to the diagnosis. The clinical data were collected from information glucose monitoring system and the hospital information system. The differences in demographic data, metabolic indicators and glycemic control indicators among the three groups were compared. Results The control rate of fasting plasma glucose in CAT group (54.6%), DR group (53.3%) and CAT+DR group (50.5%) was low (P=0.730). In DR group and CAT+DR group,the durations of diabetes mellitus, total costs of hospitalization, drug costs, operation costs and the percentages of patients in high CKD stages were significantly higher than those in CAT group (P<0.05). CAT+DR group had fewer control days, higher largest amplitude of glycemic excursions, higher incidene rates of level 1 and level 2 hypoglycemia than CAT group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in patient-day-weighted mean blood glucose and the rate of hyperglycemic events among the three groups (P＞0.05). Conclusions The elderly patients with T2DM complicated with DR and (or) CAT have large blood glucose fluctuations, low control rate and high rate of hypoglycemic event. It is necessary to avoid the glycemic treatment which might lead to high volatility of glucose or hypoglycemic event.

Key words: aged, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, glucose