fDROP plays a pivotal role in research, clinical guidance, and intervention strategies for older adults with diabetes, particularly those affected by frailty and sarcopenia. Its work demonstrates that structured exercise, nutrition, and careful therapeutic management can significantly improve outcomes and quality of life in this vulnerable population.
The Foundation for Diabetes Research in Older People (fDROP) was originally launched in 2015. The Foundation was a natural development after IDOP (Institute of Diabetes Research in Older People, 2008-14) and Diabetes Frail (2014-2023), which was created to host the EU-funded studies. It has been very active over the last eleven years completing at least seven European Union-funded studies and collaborating on writing three international clinical guidelines, and publishing over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the area of diabetes, frailty and sarcopaenia. One such grant was to fund the landmark MIDFRAIL Study (led by Leocardio Rodriguez Manas and Alan Sinclair) which demonstrated for the first time that functional loss in older people with diabetes and frailty can be significantly improved through resistance training and nutritional education. This work was subsequently published.
In September 2019, Professor Sinclair, representing the Foundation, joined five other clinical scientists in presenting the Harvard Conference on Diabetes in Older Adults in Boston, USA, later to become the International Geriatric Diabetes Society (IGDS). Conferences have been held annually and conference reports have been published in the Lancet (Diabetes & Endocrinology) and Diabetes Care journals.
In late 2018, the Foundation and the European Diabetes Working Party for Older People (EDWPOP) began collaboration with the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) to develop a European-wide consensus document on managing older adults with diabetes in primary care. This work is now published. This work is led by Professor Sinclair, Professor Stefania Maggi (Padua, Italy) and Professor Isabelle Bourdel-Marchasson (Bordeaux, France).
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, Professor Alan Sinclair as Director of the Foundation coordinated and co-led a Covid-19 National Rapid Response Action to develop management guidelines for those residents with diabetes and covid-19 in living in care homes. This was a multi-stakeholder group (later to become the National Advisory Panel on Care Home Diabetes (NAPCHD) which produced guidance for care home staff and this was widely disseminated via the internet and social media.
A collaboration with the European Diabetes Working Party for Older People (EDWPOP) and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS), produced European guidance to help care home (including nursing home) staff look after people with diabetes who are being treated for COVID-19 with dexamethasone or receiving oxygen treatment has been issued. Entitled ‘Dexamethasone and Oxygen Therapy in Care Home Residents with Diabetes – A Management Guide and Algorithm for Treatment‘ it was drafted as a rapid response statement following a series of consensus discussions between the EDWPOP and EuGMS in January and February 2021. Its main aim was to minimise morbidity and mortality from serious acute illnesses including COVID-19 requiring these treatments within the long-term care sector.
More recently, an ongoing research collaboration with Dr Ahmed Abdelhafiz from Rotherham, UK, and Alan Sinclair in the areas of diabetes, frailty, and metabolic phenotypes has resulted in over 45 publications. These offered a strategic plan for clinicians on how to judge what patients with frailty and diabetes might benefit from SGLT2-inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists. These publications are provided on this website.
A new project started in 2024 is the International Consensus on Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) for Older People with Diabetes. This collaboration in international and is led by Alan Sinclair and Steven Trawley of Melbourne, Australia. It is hope that the findings of the Consensus will be available in Autumn 2026.
As you can see, the Foundation goes from strength to strength!