Titanium fixtures for bone-conduction devices and the influence of type 2 diabetes mellitus

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for titanium fixture loss in bone-conduction devices (BCDs) because of osseointegration failure.

Retrospective case study.

Tertiary referral center.

All patients who received a BCD at Nijmegen between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 2007, were analyzed. The analyses were performed on 833 patients (993 implants) and a subpopulation of patients aged 40 years or older consisting of 641 patients (739 implants).

Patients received a questionnaire asking about the presence of DM at the time of implantation. Data concerning implant loss were retrieved from medical records and the Nijmegen BCD database.

The total survival rate of the BCD implant in this population was 90.6%. The prevalence of DM was 9.3%. In the subpopulation of patients aged 40 years or older, the non-DM group lost 5.1% of their implants versus 14% of Type 2 DM patients, a statistically significantly difference (p = 0.003). Spontaneous loss, loss due to a Grade 4 Holgers skin reaction, and trauma accounted for 2.2% versus 4.7% (p = 0.13), 0.5% versus 2.3% (p = 0.1), and 0.6% versus 4.7% (p = 0.007), respectively, of implant losses in non-DM versus Type 2 DM patients.

The prevalence of DM among the Nijmegen BCD population is higher than the general Dutch prevalence. A statistically significantly higher implant loss was observed during the study period for Type 2 DM patients than non-DM BCD wearers.