17/9/2015
A new study published on August the 27th in the Journal of Clinical Endocriniology & Metabolism has shown that taking antibiotics might increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The research conducted in Denmark has shown the people with type 2 diabetes have tended to take more antibiotics.
“Patients with type 2 diabetes are overexposed to antibiotics compared with matched control persons without diabetes,” said study researcher Dr. Kristian Hallundbaek Mikkelsen, a medical-doctoral student at the Center for Diabetes Research at Gentofte Hospital and the University of Copenhagen. “The overexposure is seen after, as well as 15 years, before the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes,” Mikkelsen said.
It is important to understand that even though there has been a link established between the use of antibiotics and type two diabetes, at this stage there is no data to show cause and effect.
The study tracked more than 170,000 Danes who filled antibiotic prescriptions and who had type 2 diabetes and about 1.3 million other non diabetic adults. The study found that people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes filled an average of 0.8 antibiotic prescriptions annually, compared to 0.5 a year among those who didn’t develop diabetes.
The researchers discovered that the more a person filled their antibiotic prescription, the more likely they were to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
“Individuals were fifty percent more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes if they had filled five or more prescriptions compared to those who filled none or one. Narrow-spectrum antibiotics such as penicillin V conferred a slightly higher risk than broad-spectrum antibiotics. What drives the higher risk for diabetes isn’t clear. It’s possible that the condition develops over time, increasing the risk of infection and need for antibiotics before an actual diabetes diagnosis. Or, perhaps repeated infections somehow increase diabetes risk, or exposure to antibiotics boosts the odds”, Mikkelsen said.
Click here to view the story as reported by webmd.
Click here to view the JCEM study abstract.
