Is There a Link Between Sepsis and Diabetes?
Undiagnosed sepsis can be fatal. There are a number of conditions that make someone more susceptible to sepsis, one of which is diabetes, and medical practitioners should be alert to this.
What is sepsis?
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency. It is an over-reaction by the immune system to an infection spreading through the blood, whereby the body experiences widespread inflammation (swelling). This can lead to blood-poisoning as toxins from the bacteria damage blood vessels, and septic shock due to a sudden decrease in blood pressure. In extreme circumstances, as the body's organs are starved of blood, this can cause multiple organ failure and death.
How is sepsis contracted?
Sepsis is caused by a pre-existing infection in another part of the body, such as a chest infection or a urinary tract infection. Usually, the infection is restricted to that particular location by the functioning of the immune system and sepsis does not develop. In a patient with an already-weakened immune system, however, the infection may spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream and sepsis can set in as the body responds, causing inflammation across the body.
What is diabetes?
A person suffering from diabetes has difficulty maintaining safe levels of insulin in the body. Their blood sugar levels can easily become too high and this needs to be controlled either through close attention to diet (in the case of diabetes type II) or with insulin injections (in the case of diabetes type 1). Diabetes is an on-going (chronic) condition.
How does diabetes impact on sepsis?
Research into links between sepsis and diabetes have produced a variety of results.
There are suggestions that people with diabetes are more susceptible to contracting sepsis for the following reasons:
- People with diabetes are more likely to develop wounds that don't heal well such as abscesses
- They are, therefore, more susceptible to infection
- Infections tend to develop more quickly in people with diabetes
- People with diabetes may already suffer with immune system dysfunction which may impact negatively on their body's response to sepsis
- Diabetes is a risk factor in urinary tract infections and cellulitis which may make them more vulnerable to bacterial blood infections.
It was also found that people with diabetes are more likely to experience renal (kidney) failure due to sepsis than people who do not have diabetes.
However, there are also indications that people with diabetes who develop sepsis are less likely to experience respiratory failure and, perhaps, therefore, are less likely to die from sepsis.
In fact, research has produced conflicting evidence as to whether people with diabetes are more likely to die from sepsis complications than those without diabetes.
Sepsis as a medical emergency
Sepsis needs to be diagnosed and treated urgently as lack of treatment can lead to the patient's death. It is, therefore, necessary that a patient with an infection who is also suffering from diabetes needs close monitoring for signs of sepsis, such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and rapid breathing.
Over 40,000 people die from sepsis in the UK each year.
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