Predisposition to genital infections and urinary tract infections (UTIs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) results from several factors such as glucosuria, adherence of bacteria to the uroepithelium and immune dysfunction.
The tendency to develop these infections could be even higher in patients with T2DM treated with the emerging class of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Studies have shown that pharmacologically-induced glucosuria with SGLT2 inhibitors raises the risk of developing genital infections and, to a relatively lesser extent, UTIs. However, a definitive dose relationship of the incidence of these infections with the SGLT2 doses is not evident in the existing data. Therefore, the precise role of glucosuria as a causative factor for these infections is yet to be fully elucidated.
Written by:
Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014 Mar;103(3):373-81. Are you the author?
Academic Medical Centre, Centre for Infection and Immunity, Amsterdam CINIMA, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Section of Endocrinology, Tulane University Health Sciences Centre, 1430 Tulane Avenue-SL 53, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA; University Hospital of the Canary Islands, Carretera Cuesta Taco, S/N, 38320 San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Bristol-Myers Squibb, Global Development, Research and Development, Princeton, NJ, USA; AstraZeneca, Global Medical Affairs, Diabetes and Metabolism, Wilmington, DE, USA.
Reference: Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014 Mar;103(3):373-81.
doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2013.12.052
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24529566
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