This site is intended for health professionals only


Diabetes ‘raises risk of UTIs’

Patients with type 2 diabetes have a 60% increased risk of developing a UTI compared with those without diabetes, concludes new research on a UK population.

The study involved 135,000 patients with diabetes from the General Practice Research Database who were matched with a similar number of controls without diabetes.

Over two years, the adjusted two-year risk of UTI for all patients with diabetes was 61% higher than matched controls. The absolute incidence of UTI among patients with diabetes was 46.9 per 1,000 person-years, compared with 29.9 in patients without diabetes.

Patients with a new diagnosis of diabetes – defined as those with diabetes recorded six months or later than GP registration – had a lower UTI incidence, at 45.5 per 1,000 person years, than those with a diagnosis at registration or six months later, whose UTI incidence was 58.8 per 1,000 person-years.

The US researchers – including employees of the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb – concluded: ‘Our results confirm that patients with diabetes are at an increased risk of developing UTIs across all age categories.'

J Diabetes Complications 2012, online 13 August

 

Enter our prize draw to win an iPad by letting us know the impact of NHS rationing in your area


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.