Title

Prevalence of poor glycemic control among elderly type 2 diabetes patients in rural India

Authors

M. Malarkodi¹, S. Aruna^2,*, S. Jeevithan³ & M. Sudha⁴

Affiliation

¹Department of Community Health Nursing, KMCH College of Nursing, Coimbatore, The Tamil Nadu DR. M.G.R Medical University, Chennai, India; ²Department of Community health Nursing, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University), Porur, Chennai-600116, Tamil Nadu, India; ³Department of Community Medicine, KMCH Institute of Health Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, The Tamil Nadu DR. M.G.R Medical University, Chennai, India; ⁴Department of General Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (DU), Porur, Chennai-600116 Tamil Nadu, India; *Corresponding author

Email

M. Malarkodi - E-mail: malarkodi@kmchcon.ac.in.

S. Aruna - E-mail: drarunas75@gmail.com

S. Jeevithan - E-mail: dr.jeevithan@gmail.com

M. Sudha - E-mail: sudha.m@sriramachandra.edu.in

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received February 1, 2026; Revised February 28, 2026; Accepted February 28, 2026, Published February 28, 2026

Abstract

Poor glycemic control remains a major public health problem among elderly patients with type 2 diabetes in rural India. Therefore, it is of interest to assess poor glycemic control among 378 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes attending a rural health centre in Coimbatore. Data were collected using structured interviews and HbA1c measurements to assess glycemic status. Data show that 77.5% of participants had inadequate glycemic control with HbA1c levels above 7. A significant association was observed between longer duration of diabetes and poor glycemic control, while no significant associations were found with age, gender, education, treatment type, comorbidities, or health education. This study advances knowledge by highlighting a high prevalence of poor glycemic control among elderly patients with type 2 diabetes in a rural setting. It identifies longer duration of diabetes as a key determinant, emphasizing the need for duration-focused glycemic management.

Keywords

Poor glycemic control, type 2diabetes, elderly, HbA1c, rural health

Citation

Malarkodi et al. Bioinformation 22(2): 630-633 (2026)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.