Bidirectional Screening of Tuberculosis Patients for Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetes Patients for Tuberculosis

To assess the feasibility and results of screening diabetes mellitus (DM) patients for tuberculosis (TB) and TB patients for DM within the routine health care setting. Prospective observational study carried out within the Diabetes Centre and Pulmonary Medicine Department from February 2012 to September 2012. The screening for active TB in DM and DM in TB patients is followed as per the guidelines of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme and national programmes in India. Total of 307 patients diagnosed with TB during the study period. Among the TB patients 9.77% were smokers, 19.54% were known cases diabetes, and 15.96% were newly diagnosed cases of diabetes. Total of 4,118 diabetes patients were screened for TB in which 111 patients found to have TB. The strengths of this study are that we implemented screening within the routine health system. It is feasible to screen DM patients for TB resulting in high rates of TB detection.