Introduction & objective: The risk of injury in people with diabetes is not well described. This study was conducted to estimate the risk and excess hospitalisation rate for injury in people with diabetes compared to the general population.
Methods: Data were obtained from the Australian National Diabetes services scheme, Hospitalisation Datasets, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the National Death Index, and the national census from 2011-2017. Hospitalisations for injury were coded into the following categories: head, lower extremity, upper extremity, abdominal, vertebral, burns, and other injury. Poisson regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) and excess hospitalisation of injury in those with diabetes compared to the general population.
Results: In this study, there were 97,917 admissions among people with diabetes and 3,463,173 among the general population. Compared to the general population, the age, sex, and calendar year adjusted risk of admission for any injury (RR 1.01 [95% CI: 1.01, 1.02]), head injury (1.14 [1.12, 1.15]), burn (1.30, [1.23, 1.39]), and other injury (1.16 [1.13, 1.20]) was higher for people with diabetes. Compared to the general population, a lower risk of hospitalisation was observed for lower extremity injury (0.96 [0.95, 0.98]), abdominal (0.65 [0.64, 0.66]), vertebral (0.88 [0.86, 0.90]), and upper extremity (0.91 [0.90, 0.92]) injury. Compared to the general population, higher risk of injury was observed in people with type 1 diabetes (1.40 [1.37, 1.44]) and type 2 diabetes using insulin (1.27 [1.26, 1.29]), but the risk was lower in those not using insulin (0.92 [0.91, 0.93]). Falls were the primary cause of injury in people with diabetes.
Conclusion: Diabetes, especially those using insulin exhibited higher risk of hospitalisation for injury. Diabetes interventions should consider falls prevention strategies including building muscle strength.
B.E. Feleke: None.
