Abstract
AIMS: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of geriatric syndrome (GS) in patients with type 2 diabetes(T2D) and analyse the factors associated with GS in T2D patients. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 248 community-dwelling older adults with T2D. GS was assessed using the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS), handgrip strength, and 5-m walking speed. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to examine factors associated with each syndrome. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 73.9 ± 5.9 years. The prevalence of functional dependence, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, and falls was 17.7%, 18.5%, 12.9%, and 19.4%, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, slower walking speed (< 0.7 m/s) was significantly associated with higher risks of functional dependence, depressive symptoms, and falls. In addition, each 1-kg increase in handgrip strength was associated with 13% lower odds of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Slower walking speed was associated with functional dependence, depressive symptoms, and falls in older adults withT2D. Greater handgrip strength was inversely associated with cognitive impairment. Assessing these simple measures may help identify individuals at risk for multidimensional decline at an early stage.