INVESTIGATING ANTIBIOTIC USE AND ITS CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES: A SYSTEMIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes, a non-communicable disease, affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is projected to continue increasing. Similarly, the global epidemic of antibiotic resistance from overuse is projected to increase as well. Recent studies have begun to establish evidence for an association between excessive antibiotic usage and the development of type 2 diabetes, but have yet to confidently determine causality. Objective: To investigate the current precedent for excessive antibiotic usage in correlation to development of type 2 diabetes. Methods: This literature review was conducted using the framework of PRISMA to find causative associations between the extreme usage of various antibiotics and subsequent development of type 2 diabetes. Search terms initially used to identify synonyms included "antibiotic"AND "metabolic disease". In reducing the scope of the search, "antibiotic" AND "type 2 diabetes" were found in all relevant articles from the PubMed database. Results: Ten studies were analyzed after meeting the inclusion criteria. Each study indicated a statistically significant positive correlation between antibiotic use and a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: The common patterns of increased type 2 diabetes risk and excessive antibiotic use were: the type of antibiotic (quinolones, narrow-spectrum antibiotics), the number of antibiotic prescriptions (5 or more), and the duration of antibiotic use (medium- and long-term). Further studies will need to be conducted to determine causality, as the current leading interpretation suggests intensive antibiotic consumption decreases gut microbiome diversity, increasing the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.