Features of Pulmonary Tuberculosis m Patients With Diabetes Mellitus: A Comparative Study

This retrospective study was designed to compare the demographic features, radiological findings and the response to anti-tuberculous therapy of diabetic pulmonary tuberculosis patients with nondiabetic tuberculosis patients. Records of 85 diabetic and 84 nondiabetic patients diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis at Heybeliada Chest Hospital between 1995-2000 were reviewed. Male/female ratio of the 85 diabetic patients with tuberculosis were 45/40. Male patients showed a peak in the 50 to 60 age group and the females in the over 60s. The nondiabetic group included 32 males and 52 females with a homogenous distribution between 20-50 years of age in males and a peak in the 20-30 age group in the females. Tuberculosis was diagnosed within the first 5 years of the diagnosis of diabetes in 33 (38%) of the patients. Lower lung field involvement was present only in 3 (3.5%) diabetic patients. Fifty seven (67%) diabetic and 58 (69%) nondiabetic patients had cavitary The results indicate that tuberculous disease tends to occur at a more advanced age in diabetics, that there is a tendency to develop tuberculosis in the first years of the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, that the diabetic state does not alter the radiological features of tuberculosis significantly and while radiological improvement is similar in both groups, the bacteriological cure rate is significantly higher in the nondiabetics.