Publication:

Relationship between diabetes mellitus and pulmonary tuberculosis and the outcome of treatment

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) TB co-infection is associated with poor glycemic control in DM patients. The dual curse of these two diseases may have an impact on the outcome of treatment.

Methods 72 out of 164 patients above 18 years of age were had Diabetes mellitus and 92 of them were non diabetic. Demographic details, physical and clinical examination, Blood tests for Hb1Ac, chest x rays, and sputum for AFB were done for all the patients. Antitubercular treatment was given for all of them. To the diabetics, in addition to the ATT, anti-diabetic drugs were also given. Follow up was done after 2 and 6 months.

Results The most common age group to be affected was 55-64 years among the diabetic group and 45-54 among the non-diabetic group. Most of the patients with diabetes had an elevated HbA1c levels which was significantly prominent among 35-64 years of age group. Most of the diabetics had 3+ sputum positivity. 54.2% had far advanced severity on chest X-rays. Sputum conversion was seen in 77.7% of the cases among the diabetic patients, 16.7% of these patients had failed treatment and 2 of the persons died during the study period.

Conclusions Screening for DM in patients with TB could improve case detection, early treatment, and prevention of DM complications.