Association between diabetes and tuberculosis: case-control study

OBJECTIVE: To test the association between diabetes and tuberculosis. METHODS: It is a case-control study, matched by age and sex. We included 323 new cases of tuberculosis with positive results for bacilloscopy. The controls were 323 respiratory symptomatic patients with negative bacilloscopy, from the same health services, such as: ambulatory cases from three referral hospitals and six basic health units responsible for the notifications of new cases of tuberculosis in Salvador, Bahia. Data collection occurred between 2008 and 2010. The instruments used were structured interview, including clinical data, capillary blood glucose (during fasting or postprandial), and the CAGE questionnaire for screening of abusive consumption of alcohol. Descriptive, exploratory, and multivariate analysis was performed using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The average age of the cases was 38.5 (SD = 14.2) years and of the controls, 38.5 (SD = 14.3) years. Among cases and controls, most subjects (61%) were male. In univariate analysis we found association between the occurrence of diabetes and tuberculosis (OR = 2.37; 95%CI 1.04–5.42), which remained statistically significant after adjustment for potential confounders (OR = 3.12; 95%CI 1.12–7.94). CONCLUSIONS: The association between diabetes and tuberculosis can hinder the control of tuberculosis, contributing to the maintainance of the disease burden. The situation demands increasing early detection of diabetes among people with tuberculosis, in an attempt to improve disease control strategies.