Screening for diabetes mellitus in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in tertiary care hospital in India

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are common and under diagnosed medical conditions in India. Prevalence of these chronic diseases are high both in rural and urban areas. However, exact prevalence of DM in Indian COPD patients in unclear. Co-morbid conditions like DM have great impact on the outcome of COPD in the form of severity, exacerbations, morbidity and mortality. Hence the present study objective was to screen COPD patients for DM. RESULTS: A total of 1662 patients with COPD (Males = 1264, Female = 398) with mean age 58 ± 9.6 were screened for DM. Patients with known history of DM were 353 (21.24%) and were enrolled as Known DM cases. Remaining 1309 (78.76%) patients whose DM status was unclear were screened by random blood sugar (RBS). One-hundred and seventy-one subjects had RBS > 110 mg/dl. About 73 (4.39%) subjects had fasting blood sugar (FBS) > 126 mg/dl. They were considered as Newly Diagnosed DM cases. Total number of DM cases in the study including new and known was 426 (25.63%). Number of patients with deranged FBS (FBS between 110 mg/dl to126 mg/dl) was 84 (5.05%). Among the DM patients with COPD 168 (10.11%) had poor glycemic control with HbA1c > 8. Prevalence of DM in present study was 25.63%. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of DM in COPD patients in the present study is 25.63% when actively screened in tertiary care hospital. It is feasible and imperative to screen all COPD patients for DM in all health care facilities routinely.