Prevalence of Bacterial Urinary Tract Infection Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors: A Prospective Real-World Setting Study

BACKGROUND: Genitourinary tract infections, mycotic as well as bacterial, as defined by clinical symptoms, are one of the common adverse effects associated with the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in clinical trials. However, Indian data in terms of the prevalence of culture-proven bacterial type of urinary tract infection (UTI), and the causative organism is limited. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and causative agents of bacterial UTI among patients with T2DM on SGLT2i. METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective longitudinal study involving all patients with T2DM who were prescribed with SGLT2i, uncontrolled on other oral anti-diabetic medications, from June 2019 to February 2020. Prevalence of bacterial UTI was evaluated at baseline and 12 weeks after initiation of SGLT2i. RESULTS: A total of 80 patients were started on SGLT2i. One female patient on canagliflozin had significant asymptomatic bacteriuria and the causative agent was Acinetobacter baumannii. One male patient on dapagliflozin had symptomatic UTI with negative urine culture study. Four patients developed genital mycotic infection. CONCLUSION: In this real-world study, SGLT2i as a class, was well tolerated with favorable safety profile, and risk of developing significant bacteriuria and/or symptomatic UTI was minimal.