Diabetes and the occurrence of infection in primary care: a matched cohort study

BACKGROUND: People with diabetes may be at higher risk for acquiring infections through both glucose-dependent and biologic pathways independent of glycemic control. Our aim was to estimate the association between diabetes and infections occurring in primary care. METHODS: Using the Newfoundland and Labrador Sentinel of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network, patients with diabetes ≥18 years between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2013 were included with at least 1-year of follow-up. We randomly matched each patient with diabetes on the date of study entry with up to 8 controls without diabetes. Primary outcome was the occurrence of ≥1 primary care physician visits for any infectious disease. Secondary outcomes included primary visits for head & neck, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, skin and soft tissue, musculoskeletal, and viral infections. Using multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis, we measured the independent association between diabetes and the occurrence of infections. RESULTS: We identified 1779 patients with diabetes who were matched to 11,066 patients without diabetes. Patients with diabetes were older, had a higher prevalence of comorbidities, and were more often referred to specialists. After adjusting for potential confounders, patients with diabetes had an increased risk of any infection compared to patients without diabetes (adjusted odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval 1.07–1.37). Skin and soft tissue infections had the strongest association, followed by genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and respiratory infections. Diabetes was not associated with head and neck, musculoskeletal, or viral infections. CONCLUSION: Patients with diabetes appear to have an increased risk of certain infections compared to patients without diabetes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-018-2975-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.