[Clinical feature of the diabetic patients with recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis]

We investigated the clinical feature of 22 diabetic patients diagnosed as having recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis. More than half of the patients relapsed within five years after discharge from the hospital. The mean serum albumin concentration of those patients who experienced relapses within three years was significantly lower than that of the patients who experienced relapses a period of time greater than three years. We recognized a significant negative correlation between the recurrent period and body mass index or fasting plasma glucose values. Among these patients, 50% of them ceased treatment for diabetes mellitus personally or had not been diagnosed as having diabetes mellitus before the relapse. All of the patients who ceased treatment for diabetes mellitus before readmission were able to obtain good plasma glucose control only through diet therapy during their first hospital admission for pulmonary tuberculosis. From this study, We concluded that strict plasma glucose control is important for the prevention of a relapse of the mycobacterial infection in patients with diabetes mellitus.