Challenges of diabetes in elderly TB patients

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) are worldwide health burdens post-COVID-19. TB is the second-leading cause of death by a single infectious microbe. There is much evidence around the world about the responsibility of TB-DM co-morbidity. Both TB and DM prevalence is high in low- and middle-income countries. Especially the elderly with diabetes are more prone to TB infection due to compromised immune systems. Diabetic patients are three times as likely to develop tuberculosis as non-diabetic patients. DM interferes with the status of TB and leads to undesirable outcomes in the treatment of TB. This may later lead to the development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The coexistence of TB and DM leads to a high mortality rate and therefore becomes an enormous challenge for the medical field. This viewpoint includes the most current information about TB and DM, disease complications, treatment strategies, challenges to be faced in disease management and the importance of TB-DM bidirectional screening in older adults, which helps in early detection and better treatment programme.

Keywords: Ageing population; Diabetes mellitus; Multi-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB); Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Prevalence; Tuberculosis.