A Study on Diabetes Mellitus among Cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Ahmedabad

Introduction: Tuberculosis and Diabetes mellitus are two public health problems which not only often coexist but have serious implications on each other.DM has an impact on symptomatology,radiological manifestation,diagnosis,and management of TB.TB has significant impact on DM,causing unmasking of DM and poor control because of stress or because of drug treatment for TB.Present study attempts to asseses this coexistence with regard to the age predisposition,sex preponderance, duration and glycemic control of diabetes and the radiological manifestation. Methodology: 84 patients presenting to Pulmonary Medicine Department Smt N.H.L Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad who were suffering from both Tuberculosis and Diabetes mellitus, were studied. Various parameters considered included age, sex, history of diabetes with regard to the duration and glycemic control and radiological presentations. Results: It was found that majority were males(52 /84).The age group most commonly involved was the 40-60 year group (64 /84).Majority had their diabetes diagnosed before diagnosis of tuberculosis (48 /84), 19 had diagnosis after TB diagnosis .Out of these 48 diagnosed diabetes,9 had controlled diabetes whereas 39 had uncontrolled diabetes.26 patients had the typical radiological lesions while 58 had atypical radiological manifestation with either patchy opacity or cavitations fanning out from hilar region, lower lobe involvement and multi lobe involvement. Conclusion: TB and DM often coexist together and adversely affect eachother.Both need to be managed properly in order to achieve favorable treatment outcome.