“Patients with Type 2 diabetes are overexposed to antibiotics compared with matched control persons without diabetes,” Kristian Hallundbaek Mikkelsen, a PhD student at the Center for Diabetes Research at Gentofte Hospital and the University of Copenhagen, said. “The overexposure is seen after, as well as 15 years before, the diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Mikkelsen and others examined antibiotic prescriptions filled by more than 170,000 Type 2 diabetics and compared the data with 1.3 million other adults between 1995 and 2012. The people with Type 2 diabetes filled an average of 0.8 such prescriptions each year, compared with an average of 0.5 annually for people who do not have Type 2 diabetes.
Also, the researchers found that people who took an antibiotic were 50 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes if they filled five or more prescriptions compared to people who filled one or zero prescriptions.
Their research was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
It is still unclear if taking antibiotics signal developing diabetes or contribute to diabetes’ development.
“It could be that people who are going to develop diabetes are predisposed to get infection,” Maria Pena, MD, director of the Center for Weight Management at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthDay. Or, it could be that the antibiotics alter the gut microbiome, which can lead to obesity and then diabetes.
More articles on antibiotics:
Researchers monitor wildlife to understand antibiotic resistance in humans
Antibiotic resistance has made HAI-associated bacteria more resilient
13 recent stories on antibiotics and drug resistance
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