Double Trouble: Prevalence and Factors Associated with Tuberculosis and Diabetes Comorbidity in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Diabetes among tuberculosis patients increases the risk of tuberculosis treatment failure, death, and development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Yet, there is no data is available in Bangladesh on the prevalence of diabetes among tuberculosis patients. The objective of the current study was to estimate prevalence and identify factors associated with tuberculosis-diabetes co-morbidity among TB patients enrolled in the Directly Observed Treatment, Short course program. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among 1910 tuberculosis patients living in six urban and eleven rural areas among whom Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (those who fasted) and Random Blood Sugar test (those who did not fast) were performed. Besides glucose levels, data on socio-demographic information, family history of diabetes and anthropometric measurements…