Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jan;20(1):71-8.
doi: 10.5588/ijtld.15.0457.

Increased risk of latent tuberculous infection among persons with pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus

R L Hensel  1 , R R Kempker  2 , J Tapia  3 , A Oladele  4 , H M Blumberg  5 , M J Magee  6
Affiliations

Increased risk of latent tuberculous infection among persons with pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus

R L Hensel et al. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Setting: Although diabetes mellitus (DM) is an established risk factor for active tuberculosis (TB) disease, little is known about the association between pre-DM, DM, and latent tuberculous infection (LTBI).

Objective: To estimate the association between DM and LTBI.

Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study among recently arrived refugees seen at a health clinic in Atlanta, GA, USA, between 2013 and 2014. Patients were screened for DM using glycosylated-hemoglobin (HbA1c), and for LTBI using the QuantiFERON(®)-TB (QFT) test. HbA1c and QFT results, demographic information, and medical history were abstracted from patient charts.

Results: Among 702 included patients, 681 (97.0%) had HbA1c and QFT results. Overall, 54 (7.8%) patients had DM and 235 (33.8%) had pre-DM. LTBI was prevalent in 31.3% of the refugees. LTBI prevalence was significantly higher (P < 0.01) among patients with DM (43.4%) and pre-DM (39.1%) than in those without DM (25.9%). Refugees with DM (adjusted OR [aOR] 2.3, 95%CI 1.2-4.5) and pre-DM (aOR 1.7, 95%CI 1.1-2.4) were more likely to have LTBI than those without DM.

Conclusion: Refugees with DM or pre-DM from high TB burden countries were more likely to have LTBI than those without DM. Dysglycemia may impair the immune defenses involved in preventing Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: none declared.

References

    1. World Heatlh Organization. Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2010: Description of the global burden of NCDs, their risk factors and determinants. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2011. http://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd_report2010/en/
    1. Jeon CY, Murray MB. Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of active tuberculosis: a systematic review of 13 observational studies. PLOS MED. 2008;5:e152. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lönnroth K, Roglic G, Harries AD. Improving tuberculosis prevention and care through addressing the global diabetes epidemic: from evidence to policy and practice. Lancet Diab Endocrinol. 2014;2:730–739. - PubMed
    1. Pan SC, Ku CC, Kao D, Ezzati M, Fang CT, Lin HH. Effect of diabetes on tuberculosis control in 13 countries with high tuberculosis: a modelling study. Lancet Diab Endocrinol. 2015;3:323–330. - PubMed
    1. Young F, Wotton CJ, Critchley JA, Unwin NC, Goldacre MJ. Increased risk of tuberculosis disease in people with diabetes mellitus: record-linkage study in a UK population. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012;66:519–523. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources