The prevalence of Dupuytren's disease in patients with diabetes mellitus

Sandhya Ganesan; Ryan P Tantone; David E Komatsu; Lawrence C Hurst

doi:10.1038/s43856-023-00332-7

The prevalence of Dupuytren's disease in patients with diabetes mellitus

Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Jul 13;3(1):96. doi: 10.1038/s43856-023-00332-7.

Authors

Sandhya Ganesan¹, Ryan P Tantone¹, David E Komatsu¹, Lawrence C Hurst²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, HSC T18 Room 092, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8181, USA.
² Department of Orthopedics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, HSC T18 Room 092, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8181, USA. Lawrence.Hurst@stonybrookmedicine.edu.

Abstract

Background: Dupuytren's disease (DD) is a fibroproliferative hand disorder associated with various medical conditions, including diabetes mellitus (DM). The reported prevalence of DM among DD patients varies widely, primarily due to small sample sizes in previous studies.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using data from the TriNetX Research Database. We analyzed the overall prevalence of DD between 2010 and 2020, comparing the DM, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) cohorts. Within the DM group, patients were further categorized based on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values and prescribed anti-diabetic agents (insulin or metformin). We compared the prevalence of DD diagnosis in each group using prevalence ratios and differences.

Results: There is a higher prevalence of DD in patients with T2DM than in patients with T1DM (relative risk [RR]: 1.641; 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.356, 1.986]). Among patients with diabetes, there is a higher prevalence of DD in those taking insulin compared to those taking metformin (RR: 0.801, 95% CI: [0.774, 0.83]). The prevalence of DD varies depending on HbA1c levels, with a prevalence of 0.463% in patients having levels within the diabetic range, while lower prevalences of 0.392% and 0.416% are found in patients with prediabetes or uncontrolled diabetes, respectively.

Conclusions: This study provides further insight into the relationship between DM and DD. These findings may be attributed to the increased accumulation of advanced glycosylated end products (AGEs) in patients with diabetes. Future research exploring the connection between AGE accumulation and DD development may enhance our understanding of the relationship between DD and DM.

Plain language summary

Dupuytren’s disease (DD), commonly known as Dupuytren’s contracture, is a disorder of the hand that has been associated with various conditions including diabetes. The relationship between the two has not been studied in large populations; therefore, we used a large electronic medical record database to better understand the association between these two conditions. Our analyses show that within the population of patients with diabetes, DD is more common in patients with adult-onset diabetes and patients with blood sugar levels corresponding to moderate diabetes. This finding may be related to biochemical changes in the body as a result of elevated blood sugar levels found in these patients. Future investigation into this biochemical change may contribute further to our understanding of the relationship between these two conditions.