• Posted September 19, 2025

Sepsis Risk Doubled With Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes appears to double a person’s risk for life-threatening sepsis, a new study says.

Men and people under 60 with diabetes are particularly at risk for sepsis, a condition in which the immune system overreacts to infection, researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna.

The research confirms an association between type 2 diabetes and sepsis that’s been noted in earlier studies, said lead researcher Wendy Davis, a principal research fellow with the University of Western Australia.

“The best way to prevent sepsis is to quit smoking, normalize high blood sugar and prevent the onset of the micro- and macrovascular complications of diabetes,” Davis said in a news release. “That’s why this study is important.”

More than 10% of people who develop sepsis die, researchers said in background notes.

For the new study, they analyzed data from more than 1,400 people with type 2 diabetes recruited into a large-scale Australian study between 2008 and 2011. They were compared to more than 5,700 healthy people from the same study.

During an average 10 years of follow-up, nearly 12% of people with type 2 diabetes developed sepsis, compared to 5% of their healthy counterparts.

Overall, type 2 diabetes was associated with twice the risk of sepsis, after adjusting for other risk factors, researchers found.

People between 41 and 50 years of age in particular had a high risk, with type 2 diabetes associated with a more than 14-fold increased risk of sepsis, results show.

Smoking among people with type 2 diabetes was associated with an 83% increased risk of sepsis, researchers added.

“Our study identifies several modifiable risk factors, including smoking, high blood sugar and complications of diabetes, underscoring that there are steps individuals can take to potentially lower their risk of sepsis,” Davis said.

Elevated blood sugar levels can impair immune function, researchers said.  Diabetes also renders people more prone to urinary tract infections, skin infections and pneumonia that can escalate into sepsis.

Further, blood vessel and nerve damage caused by diabetes might further heighten sepsis risk, researchers said.

But researchers noted that the study can’t draw a direct cause-and-effect link between type 2 diabetes and sepsis.

Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on sepsis.

SOURCE: European Association for the Study of Diabetes, news release, Sept. 15, 2025