Abstract:
Setting: Diabetes clinics in three hospitals in Western
Kenya: Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and two associated district hospitals.
Objective: To determine the proportion of diabetes patients with a history of tuberculosis ( TB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV ) infection and tobacco smoking.
Design: A descriptive study using routinely collected
data from patient records in the three diabetes clinics.
Results: Of 1376 patients analyzed, 750 (55%) were fe male. The mean age of the patients in the clinics was
53.5 years (95%CI 52.2–54.8), with an average duration
of diabetes of 8.1 years (95%CI 7.6–8.7). Of all patients,
5.6% reported a history of TB, similar to the frequency
about 20 years earlier (1990) in Tanzania. Only 30% of
the patients reported knowing their HIV status; 6% were
HIV-positive. A history of tobacco smoking was reported
by 3.8% of the patients.
Conclusion: The HIV epidemic does not seem to have
significantly changed the relationship between TB and diabetes mellitus (DM) in this cohort of diabetes patients.
The frequency of HIV and TB in this special population
was comparable to that in the general population, and
only a small proportion of patients reported a history of tobacco smoking.