Diabetes is widely thought to increase an individual’s susceptibility to infection by reducing the effectiveness of the body’s immune response.
Consistent with this hypothesis, there is an increased likelihood of both common and rare infections in people with diabetes, and more recently the disease has emerged as an important risk factor for adverse outcomes in cases of COVID-19.
In a recent study from Johns Hopkins, scientists found people with diabetes are much more likely to be hospitalized and have a greater risk of dying from infections.
This higher risk is more pronounced in younger adults with diabetes.
In the study, researcher used data from 12,379 adults aged 45-64 years. Participants underwent initial clinical examinations, medical interviews, and lab tests when they joined the study,
During a follow-up period of 23.8 years, there were 4,229 cases of hospitalization.
People with diabetes were at a much greater risk of being hospitalized than individuals without the disease (25.4 vs 15.2 per 1,000 person-years).
After adjusting for other factors, participants with diabetes had an infection hospitalization rate 92% higher than non-diabetics, and a mortality rate 72% higher.
This association was observed in all subgroups but was stronger for those under 55 years of age.
The link was also present for nearly every type of infection, with hospitalization due to foot infection being 6 times more likely to occur in people with diabetes.
The findings suggest diabetes is linked to an increased risk of hospitalization for infection.
The increased risk of hospitalization for infection associated with diabetes was observed across major types of infections but was especially robust for foot infections.
The team says the risk of infection mortality was increased also for those with diabetes compared with those without diabetes.
Infection prevention and management have become especially important due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that eating more eggs linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and people with high intake of linoleic acid have lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about unhealthy plant-based diets linked to metabolic syndrome, and results showing Mediterranean diet could help reduce the diabetes risk by 30%.
The study was published in Diabetologia and Dr. Michael Fang et al.
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