Sliding scale insulin use in a national cohort study of nursing home residents with type 2 diabetes

Glucose-lowering medicines use before and after entry into long-term care facilities

AIM

To examine changes in the use of glucose-lowering medicine (GLM) 12 months before and 12 months after long-term care facility (LTCF) entry among people with diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A national retrospective cohort study was conducted using linked health and aged care data from the Registry of Senior Australians National Historical Cohort. Residents of LTCFs with diabetes aged 65 years or older from 2015 to 2019 were included. Prevalence of GLM use and the number of defined daily doses (DDDs) dispensed per 1000 resident-days were estimated quarterly (91-day) using Poisson regression models, or negative binomial regression when overdispersion was present.

RESULTS

Among the 50 993 residents studied (median age 84 years), the prevalence of GLM use was 58.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 58.0%-58.8%) in the 9-12 months pre-LTCF entry and 56.3% (95% CI 55.9%-56.8%) in the 9-12 months post-entry. The number of DDDs/1000 resident-days increased from 1015.2 (95% CI 1002.3-1028.1) to 1253.8 (95% CI 1168.4-1339.3) during the same period. GLM use in the 3 months pre-entry was 56.8% (95% CI 56.4%-57.2%) compared with 61.7% (95% CI 61.3%-62.1%) in the 3 months post-entry, with the increased use driven mainly by insulin. No marked changes in the number of GLMs dispensed or GLM type were observed at 9-12 months post-entry compared with 3 months pre-entry. Among 22 792 individuals dispensed a GLM in the 3 months prior to LTCF entry, 50.2% continued the same GLM at 9-12 months post-entry.

CONCLUSIONS

GLM use peaked in the first 3 months following LTCF entry, driven mainly by insulin, hence, residents may benefit from close monitoring of diabetes treatment during this period.

Sliding Scale Insulin Use in Nursing Homes Before and After Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To characterize sliding-scale insulin (SSI) use in US nursing homes (NHs) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A total of 129,829 US NH residents on SSI (01/2018-06/2022) across 12 NH chains with a common electronic health record system.

METHODS

Among all residents with at least 1 administration of SSI documented in the electronic medication administration record, we described resident demographics, frequency of SSI monotherapy vs combination therapy with another diabetes medication, number of daily capillary blood glucose readings ("fingersticks"), and hypoglycemia (capillary blood glucose <70 mg/dL) and hyperglycemia after first SSI use. We used interrupted time series analysis (ITS) with segmented linear regression models to examine whether the monthly prevalence of SSI use changed at and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020).

RESULTS

There were 129,829 unique NH residents with SSI use [51% women, average age 71.3 (SD 11.7) years]. Of these, 36% of residents received SSI monotherapy and 64% received SSI combination therapy. Residents on SSI received an average of 3.96 (SD 1.41) fingersticks per day. Overall, 26% of SSI users experienced a hypoglycemic event within 30 days of the first SSI dose. The ITS analysis identified a step decrease in the rate of SSI use following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (43 fewer SSI users per 1000 insulin users) but no change in overall trend over time from before the onset of the pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

SSI use and fingerstick burden are high in NH residents. Hypoglycemia occurred commonly among residents on SSI. Future research should compare the safety and effectiveness of SSI monotherapy vs other diabetes medication regimens to guide person-centered prescribing decisions in NHs.

Fingerstick glucose monitoring by cognitive impairment status in Veterans Affairs nursing home residents with diabetes

BACKGROUND

Guidelines recommend nursing home (NH) residents with cognitive impairment receive less intensive glycemic treatment and less frequent fingerstick monitoring. Our objective was to determine whether current practice aligns with guideline recommendations by examining fingerstick frequency in Veterans Affairs (VA) NH residents with diabetes across cognitive impairment levels.

METHODS

We identified VA NH residents with diabetes aged ≥65 residing in VA NHs for >30 days between 2016 and 2019. Residents were grouped by cognitive impairment status based on the Cognitive Function Scale: cognitively intact, mild impairment, moderate impairment, and severe impairment. We also categorized residents into mutually exclusive glucose-lowering medication (GLM) categories: (1) no GLMs, (2) metformin only, (3) sulfonylureas/other GLMs (+/- metformin but no insulin), (4) long-acting insulin (+/- oral/other GLMs but no short-acting insulin), and (5) any short-acting insulin. Our outcome was mean daily fingersticks on day 31 of NH admission.

RESULTS

Among 13,637 NH residents, mean age was 75 years and mean hemoglobin A1c was 7.0%. The percentage of NH residents on short-acting insulin varied by cognitive status from 22.7% in residents with severe cognitive impairment to 33.9% in residents who were cognitively intact. Mean daily fingersticks overall on day 31 was 1.50 (standard deviation = 1.73). There was a greater range in mean fingersticks across GLM categories compared to cognitive status. Fingersticks ranged widely across GLM categories from 0.39 per day (no GLMs) to 3.08 (short-acting insulin), while fingersticks ranged slightly across levels of cognitive impairment from 1.11 (severe cognitive impairment) to 1.59 (cognitively intact).

CONCLUSION

NH residents receive frequent fingersticks regardless of level of cognitive impairment, suggesting that cognitive status is a minor consideration in monitoring decisions. Future studies should determine whether decreasing fingersticks in NH residents with moderate/severe cognitive impairment can reduce burdens without compromising safety.