BackgroundThe incidence and the comorbidities, such as infectious diseases (e.g. pneumonia or influenza) of diabetes mellitus are increasing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate immunization status and preventive care in diabetes mellitus patients.MethodsTwo groups from the Austrian health interview survey 2014 were identified, a cohort of diabetes mellitus (DM) individuals (n= 678) and a non-diabetes mellitus (non-DM) cohort (n= 15,093). The frequencies of doctors’ visits, preventive care and immunization status were compared. Furthermore, the study population was divided by age (> 50 years, < 50 years) and differences between > 50 years old DM with < 50 years old DM and the > 50 years old DM and > 50 years old Non-DM cohort were investigated.ResultsIn the DM cohort a higher frequency of influenza immunization (13.3% vs. 7.1%,p< 0.001), doctor visits (89.4% vs. 75.4%,p< 0.001), and preventive care, such as colonoscopy (11.2% vs. 6.8%,p< 0.001) and hemoccult tests (32.6% vs. 22.1%,p< 0.001) was observed. Even though older DM individuals have a higher risk for complications, the > 50 years DM cohort has similar frequencies of colonoscopy, hemoccult test and immunization against influenza and TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) compared to > 50 years Non-DM. Although the > 50 years old DM cohort had a higher frequency of doctors’ visits, they still had lower frequencies of mammography and dentists’ visits compared to > 50 years old Non-DM. In comparison to the < 50 years old DM cohort, the > 50 years DM cohort was related to lower intact immunization status of tetanus, diphtheria, Polio and TBE. Still a higher frequency of intact immunization of pneumococcus, influenza and doctors’ visits in the > 50 years old DM cohort compared to the < 50 years old DM cohort can be reported.ConclusionPreventive care and immunization status in the DM cohort just differ slightly from the general cohort but still should be improved.Supplementary InformationThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00508-022-02080-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.