The effect of diabetes mellitus on organ dysfunction with sepsis: an epidemiological study

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic co-morbid medical conditions in the USA and is frequently present in patients with sepsis. Previous studies reported that people with DM and severe sepsis are less likely to develop acute lung injury (ALI). We sought to determine whether organ dysfunction differed between people with and without DM and sepsis.

Using the National Hospital Discharge Survey US, sepsis cases from 1979 to 2003 were integrated with DM prevalence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Diabetes Surveillance System.

During the study period 930 million acute-care hospitalisations and 14.3 million people with DM were identified. Sepsis occurred in 12.5 million hospitalisations and DM was present in 17% of patients with sepsis. In the population, acute respiratory failure was the most common organ dysfunction (13%) followed by acute renal failure (6%). People with DM were less likely to develop acute respiratory failure (9% vs. 14%, p < 0.05) and more likely to develop acute renal failure (13% vs. 7%, p < 0.05). Of people with DM and sepsis, 27% had a respiratory source of infection compared with 34% in people with no DM (p < 0.05). Among patients with a pulmonary source of sepsis, 16% of those with DM and 23% of those with no DM developed acute respiratory failure (p < 0.05); in non-pulmonary sepsis acute respiratory failure occurred in 6% of people with DM and 10% in those with no DM (p < 0.05).

In sepsis, people with diabetes are less likely to develop acute respiratory failure, irrespective of source of infection. Future studies should determine the relationship of these findings to reduced risk of ALI in people with DM and causative mechanisms.