Exposure to Glucocorticoids Increases Risk for New-Onset Diabetes

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to systemic glucocorticoids during hospitalization is associated with an increased risk for new-onset diabetes, according to a study presented at the annual of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held from Sept. 9 to 13 in Madrid.

Rajna Golubic, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues estimated the crude and age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of new-onset diabetes arising during time exposed versus unexposed to systematic glucocorticoids. The analysis data set included 451,606 adults free from diabetes (median age, 52 years).

The researchers found that autoimmune/inflammatory diseases/infections were the most common indication for systemic glucocorticoids (65.3 percent). Overall, 1.8 and 0.8 percent of ever-exposed versus never-exposed individuals developed new-onset diabetes in the exposed and nonexposed time in years. The incidence rates were 51.9 and 18.5 per 100 person-years for the ever-exposed and never-exposed groups, respectively. The median length of stay in days was three and one for ever-exposed and never-exposed participants. For new-onset diabetes associated with glucocorticoids, the unadjusted and age- and sex-adjusted IRRs were 2.8 and 2.6, respectively.

“These latest results give clinical staff a better estimate of how likely new diabetes is to occur and could prompt doctors to plan clinical care more effectively to detect and manage new diabetes,” Golubic said in a statement.

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