Diabetes triples the risk that a person will develop tuberculosis, claims a new report by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and the World Diabetes Foundation. The report that screened TB patients in India for diabetes mellitus (DM) shows significantly higher rates of diabetes among TB patients than the general population and cautions against a co-epidemic of TB and diabetes.
“Diabetes is skyrocketing globally, projected to increase from 382 million cases in 2013 to 592 million cases in 2035,” the report says, adding in India 109 million people between the age of 29 and 79 are projected to be living with diabetes in the year 2035.
The report ‘The Looming Co-epidemic of TB-Diabetes: A Call to Action’ cautions that if the trend of TB patients with diabetes going unnoticed continues, the consequence will be an increasing number of people who develop tuberculosis as a result of diabetes; potentially reversing the progress made against TB over the last few decades.
Of 8,269 TB patients diagnosed and initiated on treatment in participating facilities in India as part of the study, 8,109 (98 per cent) were assessed for DM and 1084 (13 per cent) were found to have it.
“In places where this issue has been studied—from India to China to East Africa and the United States—we’re seeing significantly higher rates of diabetes among TB patients than what appears in the general population. If we don’t act now to head this off, we’re going to experience a co-epidemic of TB-diabetes that will impact millions and sap public health systems of precious resources,” said Dr. Anil Kapur, member of the Board of Directors of the World Diabetes Foundation.
The report says despite a successful national TB programme, it is likely in India, the diabetes epidemic is hampering TB control efforts. “Three recently published clinical research studies in South India in about 1500 patients with TB found a high prevalence of DM: about 25 per cent in Tamil Nadu and about 44 per cent in Kerala,” says the report.
India has the highest global number of TB cases, estimated at 2.2 million per annum in the world, according to WHO, which has revealed a new treatment drug to stem the prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) Tuberculosis, but has cautioned that its use must be preceded by following a set of guideline issued by it.
