Could Antibiotics Increase Risk of Developing Diabetes?

Exposure to antibiotics was associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study.

Previous research has shown that gut bacteria may influence metabolism, but little data is available on how this bacteria, and the use of antibiotics, may be linked with type 2 diabetes risk.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Short Antibiotic Course Effective Against Gastro Infection
Antibiotics Elevate Risk of Death, Cardiac Arrhythmias
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To further explore this potential association, researchers conducted a population-based case-control study of incident type 2 diabetes cases in Denmark between 2000 and 2012.

Overall, the data revealed a 53% increased risk of developing diabetes in participants that were exposed to antibiotics.

“A clear dose-response effect was seen with increasing cumulative load of antibiotics. The increased use of antibiotics in patients with type 2 diabetes was found up to 15 years before diagnosis of type 2 diabetes as well as after the diagnosis.”

While this data appears to suggest that antibiotic use increases one’s risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers noted that it may also reveal an increased demand for antibiotics due to increased risk of infection in patients with undiagnosed diabetes.

“Thus, our results call for new investigations of the long-term effect of antibiotics on lipid and glucose metabolism and body weight gain. In particular, we suggest investigation of commonly used narrow-spectrum penicillins because these drugs are frequently prescribed and showed the highest odds ratio for type 2 diabetes risk,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Mikkelsen KH, Knop FK, Frost M, et al. Use of antibiotics and risk of type 2 diabetes: a population-based case-control study. JCEM. August 27, 2015 [epub ahead of print]. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2015-2696.