Prevalence of Rheumatological Manifestations in Diabetic Population from North-West India

An increased prevalence of rheumatological manifestations is recognised in diabetes and is a common source of disability. The relationship with other risk factors and glycaemic control is uncertain. We designed this study to find out the prevalence of rheumatological manifestations, association with various risk factors and to assess differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The study was conducted from Jan 2010 to Dec 2011 at tertiary care hospital. We recorded type of diabetes, various risk factors viz age, duration of diabetes, glycaemic control (HbA1C) and BMI and noted prevalence of various rheumatological manifestations by clinical examination, X-ray and if needed CT scan/MRI. We explored correlation between rheumatological manifestations and these variables using logistic regression.

The prevalence of rheumatological manifestations was estimated at 570 per 1000 population. The manifestations were more common in type 1 diabetes (62.7%). The various complications observed in the present study were DISH (13%), Frozen Shoulder (20%), Dupuytren's Contracture (7.2%), Osteoarthritis (36.1%), Neuroarthropathy (2.9%), Chieroarthropathy (22.6%) and Flexor Tenosynovitis (8.1%). Among various risk factors, duration of diabetes (odd ratio: 5.127), BMI (odd ratio: 7.429) and age (odd ratio: 4.731) were common risk factors. Poor glycaemic control was also associated with increased prevalence of rheumatological manifestations.

Rheumatologic manifestations are very common in diabetics and are associated with poor glycaemic control, BMI, duration of diabetes and age of the patients.