Metabolic control in insulin-treated type 2-diabetic patients aged over 80 years and without participation in a structured diabetic teaching program.

Background: It is well-known that elderly patients with insulin therapy need an age-adapted diabetes teaching program (DTP). In this study we investigated how many newly insulinized type 2-diabetic patients aged over 80 years were not fit for a structured DTP and why. Moreover, we evaluated the vascular risk profile and the prevalence of vascular diseases in the patients with and without DTP.

Ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and reactive arthritis show increased bone resorption, but differ with regard to bone formation.

Objective: To test if markers of bone metabolism are altered in patients with seronegative spondyloarthropathies (SSpA).

Methods: We studied biochemical markers of bone resorption and bone formation, osteoprotegerin (OPG), and bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and reactive arthritis (ReA) and healthy volunteers.

Results: The bone resorption markers urinary deoxypyridinoline and crosslinked telopeptide of collagen-I were significantly increased in patients with AS, PsA, and ReA; in PsA they correlated with the acute phase response (C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate).