Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Both diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) are major public health problems and among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The TB-DM coexistence is known to complicate TB care, control and prevention. Globally, 10.4 million TB cases exists, of them 10 % are linked to DM. People with DM are at four to five times higher risk of getting infected with tuberculosis and evidence show poor TB treatment outcomes. This study purposed to evaluate the impact of diabetes mellitus on treatment outcomes in patients with active tuberculosis.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary health care center in Tirana, Albania. We analyzed the medical records of 140 patients hospitalized during in 2018–2019 with a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Study subjects were adult tuberculosis patients hospitalized in our hospital and undergoing antituberculosis treatment. Data from study subjects were obtained by interview method using semistructured questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic and clinical parameters. To determine DM risk factors, one variable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was done with 95% confidence interval and P-value <0.05 considered significant.

Results: Out of 140 patients, the prevalence of DM was found to be 9.3 % (n=13) with average glucose values X = 145 mg/dl (min 120 — max 175 mg/dl), SD = 30. No significant differences were found between sex, residence, type and site of TB. Increasing age (P<0.02), male sex (P=0.04), and clinical manifestations like type of TB (P=0.82), multilobe involvement (P=0.243), other lung diseases (P=0.154) are not significantly associated with DM-TB comorbidity.

Conclusion: The prevalence of DM among TB patients in this study is high. The expanding burden of diabetes is increasing the risk of contracting tuberculosis and has a strong impact on TB treatment outcomes. The results of our study show that patients with TB-DM were at higher risk of treatment failure and mortality compared to those with TB without diabetes. Bidirectional screening for TB and DM along with planning and implementation of preventive and curative strategies will help early detection and prevent complications of comorbidity.