Retrospective Study on Hospital Admissions due to Pyelonephritis in Type II Diabetic Patients

Background: Pyelonephritis is a urinary tract infection that ascends to involve the kidneys. It can also occur as an infection secondary to bacteremia. Some pathogens that commonly cause pyelonephritis are E. coli, enterobacteriaceae, staphylococci, and pseudomonas. The initial patient presentation usually involves fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, costovertebral angle tenderness, and flank pain. Other cystitis symptoms such as dysuria, increased urinary frequency, malodorous urine, and hematuria may or may not be present. Symptoms of pyelonephritis with bacteriuria are sufficient for the diagnosis of pyelonephritis. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate a potential link between Type II Diabetes Mellitus and pyelonephritis. Methods: In this retrospective study, hospitalized patients during the study period were reviewed. Variables examined were sex, age, and length of stay. Patients were excluded if they had known urogenital abnormalities, indwelling catheters (Foley, nephrostomy, suprapubic, or who regularly perform clean intermittent catheterization), were pregnant, or were on dialysis. Results: Of 333 patients analyzed, diabetics had a longer length of stay then non-diabetics (4.49 vs 3.67 days respectively; p=0.0041) and females were significantly younger than men in hospitalized patients for pyelonephritis were (50.0 vs 63.5 years; p=<0.0001). Further, it was found that diabetics were significantly older than nondiabetics were (60.4 vs 47.3; p=<0.0001) and more diabetics getting admitted with pyelonephritis were men vs women (59.32% vs 35.27%; p=0.0007). Conclusion: Results of the study were significant in showing that of all pyelonephritis-hospitalized patients on average the length of stay was longer for diabetics and it demonstrated that female patients with pyelonephritis are significantly younger than male patients hospitalized with pyelonephritis. Of note, there was no significant difference in the length of stay for diabetic patients based on their treatment modality (diet controlled vs. oral medications vs. insulin dependent vs. combined). The study also showed that diabetics getting admitted for pyelonephritis are more men and older in age compared to the nondiabetics.