Study shows link between diabetes, TB

[Niko]

Re: Study shows link between diabetes, TB

The results of this study are disturbing, to say the least. There has been numerous warnings in recent years about the increasing % of the population with Type II diabetes (diagnosed or not). People with diabetes face many challenges - now we need to add TB to that list? The good news is that in many (most?) cases, diabetes can be prevented or at least delayed with proper diet and exercise (for prevention tips, see: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-prevention.jsp)

Total Prevalence of Diabetes &
Pre-diabetes (USA)

Total: 20.8 million children and adults -- 7.0% of the population -- have diabetes.

Diagnosed: 14.6 million people

Undiagnosed: 6.2 million people

Pre-diabetes: 54 million people

1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older in 2005.

Total prevalence of diabetes

Under 20 years of age: 176,500, or 0.22% of all people in this age group have diabetes. About one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes.

Two (2) million adolescents (or 1 in 6 overweight adolescents) aged 12-19 have pre-diabetes.

Although type 2 diabetes can occur in youth, the nationally representative data that would be needed to monitor diabetes trends in youth by type are not available. Clinically-based reports and regional studies suggest that type 2 diabetes, although still rare, is being diagnosed more frequently in children and adolescents, particularly in American Indians, African Americans, and Hispanic/Latino Americans.

Age 20 years or older: 20.6 million, or 9.6% of all people in this age group have diabetes.

Age 60 years or older: 10.3 million, or 20.9% of all people in this age group have diabetes.

Men: 10.9 million, or 10.5% of all men aged 20 years or older have diabetes although nearly one third of them do not know it.

Women: 9.7 million, or 8.8% of all women aged 20 years or older have diabetes although nearly one third of them do not know it. The prevalence of diabetes is at least 2 to 4 times higher among non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian, and Asian/Pacific Islander women than among non-Hispanic white women.
Total prevalence of diabetes by race/ethnicity

Non-Hispanic whites: 13.1 million, or 8.7% of all non-Hispanic whites aged 20 years or older have diabetes.

Non-Hispanic Blacks: 3.2 million, or 13.3% of all non-Hispanic blacks aged 20 years or older have diabetes. After adjusting for population age differences, non-Hispanic blacks are 1.8 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.

Hispanic/Latino Americans: After adjusting for population age differences, Mexican Americans, the largest Hispanic/Latino subgroup, are 1.7 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. If the prevalence of diabetes among Mexican Americans was applied to the total Hispanic/Latino population, about 2.5 million (9.5%) Hispanic/Latino Americans aged 20 years or older would have diabetes. Sufficient data are not available to derive estimates of the total prevalence of diabetes (both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes) for other Hispanic/Latino groups. However, residents of Puerto Rico are 1.8 times as likely to have diagnosed diabetes as U.S. non-Hispanic whites.

American Indians and Alaska Natives: 99,500, or 12.8% of American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older who received care from IHS in 2003 had diagnosed diabetes. 118,000 (15.1%) American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older have diabetes (both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes). Taking into account population age differences, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: The total prevalence of diabetes (both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes) is not available for Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders. However, in Hawaii, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders aged 20 years or older are more than 2 times as likely to have diagnosed diabetes as whites after adjusting for population age differences. Similarly, in California, Asians were 1.5 times as likely to have diagnosed diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. Other groups within these populations also have increased risk for diabetes.

For more information in English or Spanish, contact the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383).
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-sta...prevalence.jsp

(Note: Shannon has a thread with a wealth of information on alternative and/or supplementary treatments for diabetes. Look here: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...light=diabetes Thanks Shannon!)

[ruthbeme]

Many patients have both diseases

By MELISSA McEVER
The Brownsville Herald

Patients with type II diabetes are at a greater risk for contracting tuberculosis than other patients, and their cases are more severe and possibly more contagious, a group of researchers from the Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas has concluded.

Self-reported type II diabetes is the most common risk factor for tuberculosis, according to a study by Blanca Restrepo, assistant epidemiology professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health?s Brownsville campus, and other researchers.


The study, to be published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection, also concluded that patients with diabetes were more likely to have active tuberculosis and resulting complications than other patients.

?Patients who have diabetes tend to present a more complicated, advanced tuberculosis,? Restrepo said. ?If a TB patient has diabetes, it takes longer for them to respond to treatment. ... It takes longer to clear the bacteria from sputum, and they?re more likely to be infectious to the community for a longer period of time.?

According to the study, about 28 percent of TB patients from Texas also had diabetes, and about 18 percent of Mexico residents had both conditions.

Researchers collected six years? worth of data from the Texas Department of State Health Services? Region 11, which includes the Rio Grande Valley, and from health departments in Tamaulipas. They analyzed data from about 5,000 patients, Restrepo said.

Diabetics might be more prone to severe cases of tuberculosis because their immune systems are impaired, making the disease harder to fight off, experts say.

Although other studies have suggested that a link exists between diabetes and tuberculosis, this study is the first to find a link this strong, said Dr. Joseph B. McCormick, regional dean for the UT School of Public Health?s Brownsville campus and senior author of the study.

?If this link continues to strengthen and grow, diabetes could be another underlying disease that increases the worldwide epidemic of tuberculosis,? McCormick said.

Conversely, he said, ?if we can lower the rate of diabetes, we could help with the local fight against tuberculosis.?

About 8 million new cases of tuberculosis were reported worldwide in 2004, according to the World Health Organization. On the border, the incidence of TB is about 12 cases per 100,000 people, and in Mexico, it?s about 45 cases per 100,000.

Tuberculosis cases are increasing in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, according to statistics from the Texas Department of State Health Services. In Cameron County, rates have gone from 16 per 100,000 in 2001 to nearly 18 per 100,000 in 2005, and the numbers have increased from 55 cases in 2001 to 68 in 2005.

In Hidalgo, the rate has increased from 13 per 100,000 in 2001 to 13.6 in 2005, and the numbers have jumped from 74 cases in 2001 to 92 in 2005.

The Hidalgo County Health Department puts the number higher, at more than 100, in 2005.

Combined, the two counties had about 60 confirmed new cases as of July 2006, according to DSHS.

Most of the tuberculosis patients seen at the Hidalgo County Health Department, which has a dedicated TB clinic, have multiple health problems, said Eduardo Olivarez, chief executive officer for the health department.

These diagnoses include HIV, cardiovascular problems and pulmonary diseases, as well as diabetes, he said.

?Probably about 100 patients we?ve seen during the last five years had diabetes,? Olivarez said.

Olivarez called the researchers? study ?landmark? and said he hoped it would translate to treatment of both diseases.

?We need to look at ... how well patients follow through on their daily medication and physician orders for both (conditions),? he said.

McCormick said doctors should start screening diabetes patients for tuberculosis if they have telltale symptoms and screen TB patients for diabetes.

The study should help arm health-care providers with more information about the relationship between the two conditions, Restrepo said.

?It should warn the physician that the case is going to be more difficult to treat,? she said. ?Maybe they need more time, maybe they have a drug-resistant case. We also need to assess if diabetics are truly more infectious than non-diabetics.?

The study was published on the Epidemiology and Infection Web site in July but has not yet appeared in print. McCormick said that the publishing company, Cambridge University Press, has not yet specified a date for publication.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_...998_0_10_0_M36