The rapid increase in rates of type 2 diabetes* in low- and middle-income countries where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic could hamper global efforts to control and eliminate TB, according to a new three-part Series about TB and diabetes, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Diabetes increases the risk of falling ill with TB by 2-3 times, and is also a risk factor for poor TB treatment outcomes. A 52% increase in diabetes prevalence recorded over the last 3 years in the 22 highest TB burden countries is thought to be responsible for a rise in diabetes-associated TB cases from 10% in 2010 to 15% in 2013. It is therefore important to address the global diabetes epidemic in order to help improve TB prevention and optimize clinical care for people with TB/diabetes co-morbidity.
The series on TB and diabetes published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology today, has papers contributed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The papers summarize the evidence on the TB-diabetes link and provide estimates of the impact of diabetes on the global TB burden. Building on the available evidence and the experiences of implementing the WHO/The Union “Collaborative Framework for Care and Control of Tuberculosis and Diabetes”, the papers discuss implications for global policy on TB-diabetes and outlines how this is reflected in WHO's new post-2015 global TB strategy.
The papers are freely available (after registration as a Lancet user) here:
- Editorial
- Paper 1: Improving tuberculosis prevention and care through addressing the global diabetes epidemic: from evidence to policy and practice
Authors: Knut Lönnroth, Gojka Roglic, Anthony D Harries - Paper 2: Clinical management of concurrent diabetes and tuberculosis and the implications for patient services
Authors: Anca Lelia Riza, Fiona Pearson, Cesar Ugarte-Gil, Bachti Alisjahbana, Steven van de Vijver, Nicolae M Panduru, Philip C Hill, Rovina Ruslami, David Moore, Rob Aarnoutse, Julia A Critchley, Reinout van Crevel - Paper 3: The effect of diabetes and undernutrition trends on reaching 2035 global tuberculosis targets
Authors: Anna Odone, Rein M G J Houben, Richard G White, Knut Lönnroth