Outcome of tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus coinfection: A study in a tertiary care centre in semiurban India

Abstract

Tuberculosis has for a very long time been one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Diabetes mellitus is another disease which is growing into another major global challenge. Presence of diabetes increases the risk of tuberculosis by 2 to 3 times. 2 sputum samples were collected from all the 202 patients for Zeihl Neelson’s staining to screen the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacillus. Venous blood was taken for blood glycated hemoglobin and other biochemical and hematological tests. Out of these 41.6% had diabetes and 58.4% were non diabetic. The chest X-rays were severe in 51.2% patients among the TB and DM comorbid patients and 33.9% among the non diabetic patients. Poor outcome was seen in 54.8% of the cases among the DM and TB patients which in only TB patients with no diabetes, the number of cured patients was far more. There was a high incidence of diabetes among the patients with TB, which increases the morbidity and mortality among these patients. Smoking and alcoholism are preventable risk factors. So proper counselling and health education is necessary so that the patients would be able to monitor their blood sugar levels.