Comparison of insulin with combination oral antidiabetic drugs on incidence of diabetic neuropathy in elderly patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus at Prof. Dr. Chairuddin Panusunan Lubis Teaching Hospital, Medan, Indonesia

Objective: To compare insulin with a combination of oral antidiabetic drugs in preventing diabetic neuropathy in elderly patients. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Prof. dr. Chairuddin Panusunan Lubis Teaching Hospital, Medan from August to October 2024. It included 58 elderly subjects (≥60 years) with type 2 diabetes mellitus. WE compared insulin therapy and combination oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD), excluding those with severe comorbidities. Data were collected using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) from medical records. Analysis was performed with the Chi-Square test in SPSS version 27, with p<0.05 as the significance threshold. Results: In the group using insulin, 7 (33.3%) patients tested positive for DN, while 14 (66.7%) were negative. In the group using a combination of OADs, 24 (64.9%) tested positive for DN, while 13 (35.1%) tested negative (p=0.021). Conclusion: There was a significant difference between the use of insulin and the combination of oral antidiabetic drugs on the incidence of diabetic neuropathy among elderly patients.