Living with type 2 diabetes could double an individual’s risk of developing sepsis, with men and people younger than 60 most at risk, new research has found.
While past studies have found that the risk of sepsis increases by two to six-fold for people with type 2 diabetes, more recent studies are limited.
The findings from a long-term community-based study were presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna.
Sepsis can follow an infection and can lead to organ failure and even death. It is one of the leading causes of death globally, with more than 10% of people who develop sepsis dying from the condition.
Lead author Professor Wendy Davis, from the University of Western Australia, said: “An association between type 2 diabetes and sepsis has been noted in some earlier studies.
“Our study, in a large community-based sample of adults, confirms a strong relationship even after adjustment for a number of potential risk factors and the competing risk of death from unrelated causes, which may have occurred in people at high risk of sepsis before they developed sepsis, thus leading to overestimation of the incidence of sepsis if ignored.”
Professor Davis said the study was important because it highlights the need for sepsis prevention, which can include smoking cessation, normalising high blood sugar, and preventing the onset of the micro- and macrovascular complications of diabetes.
To plug the gaps in knowledge, the researchers tracked 1,430 people with type 2 diabetes and compared them to participants similar in age, sex and postcode who did not have type 2 diabetes.
A key finding during the average 10-year follow up was that 169 (11.8%) individuals with type 2 diabetes and 288 (5%) of their matched counterparts developed sepsis.
Significantly, people with type 2 diabetes who were aged between 41 and 50 had a 14.5-fold increased risk of developing sepsis. Smoking was linked to an 83% increased risk of sepsis.
Other factors linked to increased risk included being older, male, from Aboriginal ancestry, smoking, using insulin, having elevated fasting glucose and a higher heart rate, nerve disease, cerebrovascular disease, and higher levels of a heart failure biomarker, NT-proBNP.
Indigenous Australians with type 2 diabetes were three times as likely to develop sepsis.
There may be several explanations behind the link between type 2 diabetes and sepsis. One could be that raised blood sugar levels weaken the immune system, while people with the condition are more susceptible to infections. Other sepsis risks are vascular damage and neuropathy, two complications of diabetes.
Professor Davis said: “Our study identifies several modifiable risk factors, including smoking, high blood sugar, and complications of diabetes, underscoring that there are steps individuals can take to potentially lower their risk of sepsis.”
