A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO FIND THE PREVALENCE OF IMPAIRED GLUCOSE TOLERANCE IN PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

Introduction: Higher prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in a diabetic patient is a well-known fact. The inverse relationship i.e. higher prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance in a tuberculous population is also being increasingly realized now and it becomes more relevant due to increased prevalence of DM in general population. Aim/ Objective: To nd the prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and to correlate the glycaemic parameters with the grades of sputum AFB positivity. Materials & Methods: A hospital based prospective observational comparative study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital. A total of 100 consecutive eligible patients of tuberculosis, were included after taking informed parental consent. Data was analyzed using statistical software SPSS ver. 21. Results: Mean age of the study cases was 42.59 years with 78% males to 22% females. On Oral glucose tolerance test, 56% had normal results while 44% had deranged results. Out of the total 44 cases with deranged results, 13% had IGT and 31% had diabetes. A signicant association was observed between deranged OGTT values and higher sputum grades (p<0.05). Glycemic control as measured by glycated haemoglobin was signicantly associated with grade of sputum positivity. HbA1c levels were 5.98% in cases with “scanty” grade while it was 6.18%, 6.53% and 6.99% in cases with grade +1, +2 and +3 respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: We observed high prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes in tuberculosis patients. Impaired results were signicantly associated with higher degree of sputum positivity. We thus recommend diabetes screening in all TB patients by either HbA1c or OGTT and glucose levels should be measured at least every 2 months after the initiation of anti-tuberculosis treatment.