Risk of type 2 diabetes and long-term antibiotic use in childhood: Evidence from the UK Biobank

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the association between long-term use of antibiotics during childhood and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using a prospective cohort from the UK Biobank. Methods: Participants in the UK Biobank who completed the online survey for digestive health were included in this prospective cohort study. A Cox regression model adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, general health factors, mental health, lifestyle factors, comorbidities, and medication use was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and confidence interval (CI) of the association between long-term use of antibiotics in the childhood and incident T2DM. Results: The final analyses included 152,992 participants and 22,133 of them received long-term/recurrent antibiotics as children or teenagers. During the follow-up, 3370 and 681 incident T2DM cases occurred in the nonexposed and exposed groups respectively. Long -term use of antibiotics in childhood was associated with an increased risk of T2DM, with an HR of 1.16 (95 % CI, 1.07-1.27) after adjusting for potential confounders. Results in the subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were highly consistent with the primary analyses. Conclusions: Long -term use of antibiotics in childhood is associated with the risk of T2DM in middle and old age in the UK Biobank population.