• A G Moutzouri, G A Athanassiou, D Dimitropoulou, A T Skoutelis, and C A Gogos.
• Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Rion-Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece.
• J. Infect. 2008 Aug 1; 57 (2): 147-51.

ObjectivesDiabetes mellitus is accompanied by microvascular complications leading to organ dysfunction, while sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetics. We addressed the hypothesis that red blood cell (RBC) deformability may be additively compromised in septic diabetic patients, leading to a further impairment of microcirculation.MethodsForty patients suffering from severe sepsis, 12 patients suffering from diabetes and 24 diabetic patients with severe sepsis were enrolled. A filtration method and a hemorheometer were used to measure the RBCs' index of rigidity (IR).ResultsWe observed no differences in severity, organ dysfunction and outcome between diabetic and non-diabetic septic patients. Mean SAPS II score was 23.5% vs 26.8% in non-diabetic and diabetic septic patients, respectively. The mortality in non-diabetic septic patients was 22.5% and in septic diabetics was 34.3%, while septic shock occurred in 15.0% and 20.8%, respectively. We detected higher IR (17.72+/-6.31) in septic diabetics than in patients with diabetes and no sepsis (12.26+/-2.28, p< or =0.001) and in patients with sepsis and no diabetes (13.9+/-2.86, p< or =0.01).ConclusionThe presence of diabetes mellitus seems to affect the already compromised RBC deformability of septic patients, probably leading to serious microcirculatory functional impairments in septic diabetic patients.

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