Frailty increases the risk for developing urinary tract infection among 79,887 patients with diabetic mellitus and chronic kidney disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetic mellitus (DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at an increased risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) due to their altered immunological integrity. These patients are similarly prone to developing frailty, a state of cumulative health deficits involving multiple domains and leading to adverse outcomes. Whether frailty predisposes affected individuals to UTI among patients with DM and CKD remains unclear. METHODS: A population-based cohort of patients with DM and CKD (n = 79,887) were assembled from the Longitudinal Cohort of Diabetes Patients, with their baseline frailty status measured by a modified FRAIL scale. We analyzed their risk of developing UTI depending on their severity of frailty, after accounting demographic profiles, lifestyle factors, comorbidities, concurrent medications, and major interventions. A secondary analysis focused on the risk of urosepsis related to frailty. RESULTS: Among all participants, 36.1 %, 50.3 %, 12.8 %, and 0.8 % did not have or had 1, 2, and ≥ 3 FRAIL items, respectively, at baseline. After 3.51 years, 11,175 UTI events occurred. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that participants with DM, CKD and an increasing number of FRAIL items had successively higher incidence of UTI than those without any FRAIL items (log rank p < 0.001). Cox proportional hazard modeling revealed that after accounting for all confounders, those with more severe frailty exhibited a significantly higher risk of incident UTI (for groups of 1, 2, and ≥ 3 FRAIL items, hazard ratio 1.19, 1.24, and 1.43, respectively; all p < 0.001) than those without. An 11 % risk elevation for UTI could be observed for every FRAIL item increase. Participants with more severe frailty exhibited a trend of having higher risk of urosepsis as well. CONCLUSIONS: Having frailty predicted a higher risk of developing UTI in the future in patients with DM and CKD. It would be prudent to screen for frailty in these patients and provide optimal frailty-directed management to attenuate their risk of UTI and improve their outcomes.