Frequency Of Urinary Tract Infections In Type 2 Diabetes Patients Taking Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter-2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors To Regulate Their Blood Sugar Level

Abstract

Objective: Study of the prevalence of genitourinary infections in diabetic patients on SGLT2 inhibitors

Study design: A cross-sectional study

Place and Duration: This study was conducted at Services Institute of Medical Sciences Lahore hospital from January 2018 to January 2019

Methodology: The SGLT-2 inhibitors drugs given to the patients were empagliflozin and dapagliflozin as a combination or monotherapy over three months. The patients were asked for a detailed medical history and their medical records were observed to assess the genitourinary infections. The questionnaire included queries related to pain during micturition, frequency of micturition, the urgency of micturition, itching, vaginal or penile discharge, redness, soreness, abdominal pain, back pain, suprapubic pain, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, discomfort around the perianal area, tenderness in the costovertebral angle and sepsis

Results: A total of 1050 patients were considered, out of which 504 (48%) were commenced on dapagliflozin while 546 (52%) were commenced on empagliflozin. Out of 504 patients taking dapagliflozin, 327 (64.88%) were male and 177 (35.11%) were female. On the other hand, 393 (71.97%) male patients and 153 (28.02%) female patients were among those 546 that were using empagliflozin. The risk of urinary tract infection in the patients using dapagliflozin was 22 (4.3%) and it was 34 (6.74%) in those using empagliflozin. Similarly, the risk of genital tract infections in the patients using dapagliflozin was 19 (3.76%) and those using empagliflozin were 23 (4.56%). The predominance of genital infections and urinary infections was more in females than males in both empagliflozin and dapagliflozin users. The correlation between uncontrolled diabetes and female gender with the frequency of genitourinary infection was significant with a p-value of 0.003 and 0.001, respectively.

Conclusion: Diabetic patients are more prone to have genitourinary infections than healthy individuals. Patients taking SGLT-2 inhibitors have been shown to have a higher prevalence of catching genitourinary infections. SGLT-2 inhibitors intake is related to genitourinary infections in patients of diabetes mellitus type 2.