Guidelines Back More Personal Diabetes Care

Diabetes treatment plans and goals should be tailored to each person, new guidelines for doctors say. The American Diabetes Association released the guidelines. They were developed jointly with the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The guidelines say the best care plan for each person depends on several things. These include age, other health conditions, finances and motivation. For example, the blood sugar goal for a younger, mostly healthy person might be near normal. But this might not be the best goal for someone older with multiple health problems. For some people, aiming for near-normal blood sugar levels can lead to many episodes of hypoglycemia (very low blood sugar). This can be risky, especially for older adults. Some may be safer if they aim for slightly higher blood sugar levels. Having other conditions increases the number of drugs people take.