The treatment of type 2 diabetes in the elderly represents a major challenge from both a clinical and public health point of view.

Inappropriate prescription is one where the prescribed drugs do not show clear benefits versus risks, with safer and more available alternatives.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to measure the rate of adverse events to insulin in type II diabetic elderly hospitalized in an intensive care unit and to analyze inappropriate prescription of drugs with the Beers 2015 criteria.

Materials and methods:

Prospective observational study.

Results:

308 patients were studied. The number of events of hypo and hypergly[1]cemia associated with insulin was 36 (11.7%), of which: 20 were hyperglycemic and 16 were hypoglycemic. There were 30 patients with these events (9.7%), of which 18 had positive Beers criteria (60%). In the total population, 21 patients, that is, 6.8% presented Beers criteria.

Conclusions:

The proportion of elderly patients with adverse events to insulin in this sample of patients has been of the order of 9.7% and 60% have presented positive Beers criteria of inappropriate prescription.

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