Dipstick urinalysis for diabetes screening in TB patients

Diabetes knowledge among TB patients can contribute to improved TB treatment outcomes, but lack of diabetes diagnosis awareness is a limitation in developing countries. Given its low cost, the sensitivity of urine glucose dipsticks for diabetes screening in TB patients was assessed.

Glycosuria was assessed in 90 newly diagnosed TB patients (38 with diabetes) in south Texas, USA (n = 20) and northeast Mexico (n = 70) during January 2009-December 2010.

Glycosuria was detected in 65% of the diabetic patients with chronic hyperglycemia (positive predictive value 91%, negative predictive value 84%).

We propose that TB clinics with limited budgets where portable glucometers may not be available conduct universal screening for diabetes with urine dipsticks. This could be followed by blood glucose or HbA1c testing in the subset of patients requiring confirmation or higher sensitivity assessment, to improve the comanagement of TB and diabetes.