WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with diabetes have increased risk of mortality from various infections, and the increased risk appears to be greater for type 1 than type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online June 12 in Diabetes Care.
Dianna Josephine Magliano, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues examined infection-related mortality in 1,108,982 individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes. Mortality outcomes were defined as infection-relatedA-B death, pneumonia, septicemia, and osteomyelitis.
The researchers found that in type 1 and 2 diabetes, the crude mortality rates from infectionsA-B were 0.147 and 0.431 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. After adjustment for age and sex, standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were higher in type 1 and type 2 diabetes for all outcomes; SMRs were 4.42 and 1.47 for infection-relatedA-B mortality in type 1 and 2 diabetes, respectively (P < 0.001). For pneumonia, SMRs were about 5 and 6 for males and females, respectively, in type 1 diabetes, while the excess risk was about 20 percent for type 2 diabetes. SMRs were about 10 and 2 for type 1 and 2 diabetes, respectively, for septicemia. For osteomyelitis, SMRs were 16 and 58 for males and females, respectively, in type 1 diabetes, and about 3 for type 2 diabetes.
"Although death owing to infection is rare, we confirm that patients with diabetes have an increased mortality from a range of infections, compared with the general population, and that the increased risk appears to be greater for type 1 than type 2 diabetes," the authors write.
