Yong Yang
Director
Singapore General Hospital
Singapore
Title: The risk of tuberculosis in patients with diabetes mellitus from an Asian tertiary hospital
Biography
Biography: Yong Yang
Abstract
Diabetics Mellitus (DM) has been associated with increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB). However, information about the extent and risk factors for TB among Asian diabetic patients is scarce. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of TB in patients with DM, and investigate the effect of DM on TB using hospital administrative database. This is an historical cohort study of hospital discharge database from 2004 to 2015 to identify cases with DM and TB using International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 9/10th Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-9/10-AM) codes. Of 406751 hospitalized patients, 80493 (19.8%) patients had DM and 2358 (0.6%) patients had TB. Patients with DM had a significantly higher rate of TB (0.71% vs. 0.55%, p<0.001) compared to patients without DM. This higher rate was only present in the pulmonary TB group (0.62% vs. 0.44%, p<0.001) but not in the extrapulmonary TB group (0.11% vs. 0.08%, p=0.053). Logistic regression analyses showed that DM was a significant and independent predictor of TB (odds ratio 1.2, 95% CI 1.1-1.3, p<0.001) after adjustment for factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, admission class, nutritional deficiency, HIV infection, and other comorbid conditions. In conclusion, DM patients were found to have higher rates of TB in this group of Asian patient population. Active screening for latent TB should be considered for DM patients