Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the association between various types of medications and chronic pruritus (CP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through a large cross-sectional study. This study encompassed data from the Tianjin Community-Based Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Cohort, comprising 2,059 patients with T2DM who were enrolled from eight community centers. The exposure variables were different medication classes, and the outcome variable was CP symptoms. The prevalence of CP in patients with T2DM was 41.3% (851/2059). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, α-glucosidase inhibitor (AGIs) (adjusted OR 1.272, 95%CI 1.050–1.541), DPP-4 inhibitors (DPP-4is) (adjusted OR 1.286, 95%CI 1.006–1.642), and statins(adjusted OR 1.411, 95%CI 1.151–1.729) remained independently associated with higher odds of CP. In addition, the odds of CP increased progressively with the number of medications used (from one to three drugs; ORs ranging from 1.230 to 1.961). Subgroup analyses further identified a significant interaction between AGI use and renal impairment, with higher odds of CP observed among patients with renal impairment. (P for interaction < 0.05). CP in patients with T2DM was associated with the use of AGIs, DPP-4is, and statins. Moreover, a significant interaction was observed between renal impairment and the use of AGIs.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the patients and staff who participated in the study, all the participants contributed to this research and supported the publication of the article.
Funding
This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 82570950], the China Endocrine Metabolism Talent Research Fund [grant number 2023-N-03-15], Bethune Charitable Foundation [grant number Z04JKM2022E035], Science and Technology Fund of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (2024ZD036, 2023KJ103), Key Project of Science and Technology Fund of Tianjin Municipal Health Commission (TJWJ2025ZD004), and the Tianjin Key Medical Discipline (Specialty) Construction Project [grant number TJYXZDXK-032 A], Tianjin Key Medical Discipline Construction Project [grant numberTJYXZDXK-3-007B].
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MinXu, Ximan Gao, Juping Liu and Saijun Zhou were responsible for the conceptualization of the study; Ximan Gao and Zirong Liu analyzed the statistics; MinXu, Ximan Gao, Zirong Liu, Li Zhang, Zhanglong Wang, Huiru Zhuang, Wenlong Fu, Siyu Yao and Lin zhang collected data; Ximan Gao prepared figures and tables; MinXu and Ximan Gao wrote the original manuscript; Juping Liu and Saijun Zhou reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
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All data in this study were derived from the Tianjin Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Cohort. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital (Ethics Number: 2024KY-10), and written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
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Xu, M., Gao, X., Liu, Z. et al. The effect of medication use on chronic pruritus in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multicenter cross-sectional study. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42229-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42229-0
