Publication:

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus among tuberculosis patients attending a directly observed treatment-short-course center in Delhi, India

Background Diabetes (DM) can worsen the clinical course of tuberculosis (TB) and treatment outcomes in terms of increased deaths, treatment failure, and relapse rates. This study investigated the prevalence of DM in TB patients at an urban primary health centre (UPHC), Delhi and the factors associated with it.

Methods A record-based study of all TB patients registered from December 2019 to November 2020 at a directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) center of a UPHC in Delhi was conducted. Information regarding socio-demographic details and disease profile, diabetes status and random blood sugar level was collected from patients’ treatment cards. Data were entered and analyzed in SPSS. Descriptive analysis was done.

Results A total of 252 patients were registered at the DOTS center during one year and data for all of them were analyzed. The mean age of the study participants at the time of the study was 31.13±15.84 years, half of them were males (56%) and the site of the disease was predominantly pulmonary (61%). Out of 252 TB patients, 17 (7%) and 2 (1%) were diabetics and pre-diabetics respectively.

Conclusions Those patients with age more than 30 years, pulmonary TB, sputum positive TB are the factors with statistically significant association with diabetes in our study.