Shubham Singhal, Dandu Himanshu, Arvind Kumar Vaish, Mastan Singh, Himanshu Rana and Sushrut Singh
Introduction: The significance of asymptomatic bacteriuria is largely unknown. The prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in diabetic patients varies from 9-27% in various studies which is certainly higher as compared to healthy individuals. The various risk factors which lead to increased prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in diabetic patients are immune system dysregulation, development of bladder dysfunction and prostatism.
Methodology: Patient having type 2 diabetes mellitus along with age and sex matched controls that were hemodynamically stable were enrolled. A prospective cross sectional and comparative study was done. A total of 200 patients were enrolled and they were divided into two groups i.e. those with diabetes and non-diabetic patients (age and sex matched controls) without symptoms of UTI. Urine examination and biochemical investigations of the patients were done. Comparisons were be made in both groups using appropriate statistical tests.
Results and conclusions: In our study the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among the diabetic patients was significantly higher 28.2% as compared to 7.5% in the controls (p=0.001). The mean HbA1c levels were significantly higher in the patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in the s. creatinine levels in the patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria. The main risk factors for asymptomatic bacteriuria in our study were female sex (p=0.003), increased age (p=0.007), longer duration of diabetes mellitus (p=0.003), poor Glycemic control (p<0.001) and recent urinary tract infection (p=0.02). The risk factors for asymptomatic bacteriuria seem to be similar in our study as in the previous studies. The presence of asymptomatic bacteriuria may be considered a marker of poorly controlled and long standing diabetes.