Incidence of genital infection among patients with type 2 diabetes in the UK General Practice Research Database

The objective of this population-based study was to evaluate the incidence of vaginitis (females) and balanitis (males) among a cohort of type 2 diabetes patients and compare this risk to patients without diabetes. The study population included 125,237 female patients and 146,603 males identified from GPRD. All patients were followed for 1-year from their study index date for the first record of an infection or a censored event. Among patients with diabetes the incidence of vaginitis was 21.0/1000PY (95% CI 19.8–22.1) with the risk being 1.81 (95% CI 1.64–2.00) greater that patients without diabetes. The incidence of balanitis among diabetes patients was 8.4/1000PY (95% CI 7.8–9.1) with a relative risk of 2.85 (2.39–3.39) compared to patients without diabetes. Additional analyses were performed by HbA1c level. Results from this large population-based study indicate that patients with diabetes are at an increased risk of being diagnosed with infections of the genital tract and patients with poorly controlled diabetes have higher risks.