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Review
. 2021 Nov 2;9(11):2282.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9112282.

Diabetes-Associated Susceptibility to Tuberculosis: Contribution of Hyperglycemia vs. Dyslipidemia

Minh Dao Ngo  1 , Stacey Bartlett  1 , Katharina Ronacher  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Diabetes-Associated Susceptibility to Tuberculosis: Contribution of Hyperglycemia vs. Dyslipidemia

Minh Dao Ngo et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Diabetes is a major risk factor for tuberculosis (TB). Diabetes increases the risk of the progression from latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) to active pulmonary TB and TB patients with diabetes are at greater risk of more severe disease and adverse TB treatment outcomes compared to TB patients without co-morbidities. Diabetes is a complex disease, characterised not only by hyperglycemia but also by various forms of dyslipidemia. However, the relative contribution of these underlying metabolic factors to increased susceptibility to TB are poorly understood. This review summarises our current knowledge on the epidemiology and clinical manifestation of TB and diabetes comorbidity. We subsequently dissect the relative contributions of body mass index, hyperglycemia, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides on TB disease severity and treatment outcomes. Lastly, we discuss the impact of selected glucose and cholesterol-lowering treatments frequently used in the management of diabetes on TB treatment outcomes.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; cholesterol; diabetes; dyslipidemia; hyperglycemia; triglycerides; tuberculosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic overview of the impact of cholesterol, triglycerides, hyperglycemia and BMI on risk of active TB, TB disease severity and treatment outcomes. Created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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