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Prepregnancy diabetes increased risk for MRSA postpartum
Women with diabetes before pregnancy may be at higher risk for invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus early postpartum before hospital discharge, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, reported.
“There are few published reports on the epidemiology of invasive MRSA infections among postpartum women at the national level,” the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Infection Control. “Using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, we previously estimated that there were approximately 2,600 cases of invasive MRSA infection diagnosed each year in obstetric inpatients.”
The researchers also used data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for this study. From 2005 to 2008, there were 3,531,821 deliveries that were included in the analysis, and there were 563 invasive MRSA infections postpartum before discharge. They identified 28,949 women with prepregnancy diabetes, and 17 of the MRSA infections occurred in these women.
On a multivariable analysis, prepregnancy diabetes was associated with MRSA infection (OR=3.4; 95% CI, 1.9-6), and the risk persisted after adjusting for obesity. There also may be a higher risk among women who had diabetic complications (OR=1.5; 95% CI, 0.3-6), but the data do not allow for definite conclusion about this, the researchers wrote.
“These results are preliminary and merit further examination,” the researchers wrote. “Investigation of the relationship between diabetes and MRSA infection in a setting that allows for tracking of patients across multiple hospital admissions and ambulatory care visits would be particularly instructive. However, when combined with previous research showing increased risk of certain infections in diabetic persons, it seems likely that diabetic women are at increased risk of MRSA infection compared with other women admitted for delivery of an infant.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.