People with tuberculosis having pre-diabetes have a higher risk of death compared to those with normal sugar levels, a city-based study found. The treatment is also delayed among patients with pre-diabetes.
While studies have established that the coexistence of diabetes and tuberculosis influences treatment outcomes in either condition, city doctors wanted to see the effect of pre-diabetes on tuberculosis treatment outcomes.
For the study published in a peer-reviewed journal, Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews, scientists divided 187 patients who tested positive for TB into two groups — 76 TB patients without diabetes and 111 TB patients with prediabetes. The HBA1c levels were 5.7% for people without diabetes and between 5.7 and 6.4 for people with pre-diabetes. They were followed up for six months till the end of the TB treatment.
At least 70% of the patients in both groups were cured, but 6.3% of people in the pre-diabetic group died compared to 1.3% in the other group. At the end of the intensive phase (two months) of directly observed therapy (DOTS), about 23.8% had positive sputum in the pre-diabetic group compared to 8.6% in the group of people with normal blood sugar levels.
A recent pan India study showed nearly 11.4% of Indias adult population an estimated 101.3 million people — has diabetes and at least 136 million(15.3% of the population) had pre-diabetes.
The World Health Organisation(WHO) estimates 2.69 million people in India had TB in 2019, which is more than a quarter of the global burden.