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High rate of diabetes seen in TB patients from South India
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Among adults with tuberculosis in South India, researchers found a high rate of glycemic disorders and heterogeneity among the diabetic tuberculosis population, according to recent research.
“Interim EDOTS study results demonstrate a remarkably high prevalence of [diabetes mellitus] DM and pre-DM in adult pulmonary [tuberculosis] TB patients in South India, emphasizing the need for urgent action to better understand and address the dual burden of TB and DM,” Hardy Kornfeld, MD, from the department of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., and colleagues wrote in their study. “The data indicate that [oral glucose tolerance test] OGTT and [glycohemoglobin] HbA1c, as well as patient history, define subpopulations of diabetic patients for whom the susceptibility mechanisms and natural history of TB may differ.”
Kornfield and colleagues evaluated 209 patients in the Effects of Diabetes on TB Severity (EDOTS) study with confirmed diabetes mellitus or normoglycemia as measured by oral glucose tolerance test and fasting glucose, according to the abstract. Of these patients, 54% (113 patients) had diabetes mellitus, 21% (44 patients) had impaired glucose tolerance and 24.9% (52 patients) were normoglycemic.
They found that the oral glucose tolerance test confirmed more diabetes patients than glycohemoglobin, with 32.7% (37 patients) of new diagnoses in the diabetes mellitus group, according to the abstract. Patients with a new diagnosis of diabetes had a significantly lower median glycohemoglobin level (6.8%) compared with patients who were previously diagnosed with diabetes (10.4%). There was a decline in glycohemoglobin in a subgroup of 129 patients from all groups who were followed for a 3-month period, with the greatest decrease seen in patients who were newly diagnosed with diabetes. – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.