title: Effect of duration of disease on ventilatory function in an ethnic Saudi group of diabetic patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diabetes mellitus is a leading cause of illness and death across the world and is responsible for a growing proportion of global health care expenditures. The present study was designed to observe the effect of diabetes mellitus on lung function in patients with diabetes belonging to a specific ethnic group, namely Saudis.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, a group of 47 apparently healthy volunteer male Saudi patients with diabetes was randomly selected. Their ages ranged from 20 to 70 years. The patients were matched with another group of 50 healthy male control subjects in terms of age, height, weight, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Both groups met exclusion criteria as per standard. Spirometry was performed with an electronic spirometer (Schiller AT-2 Plus, Switzerland), and results were compared by a Student's t test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects with diabetes showed a significant reduction in forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV(1)) relative to their matched controls. However, there were no significant differences in the forced expiratory ratio (FEV(1)/FVC%) and the middle half of the FVC (FEF(25-75%)) between the groups. We observed a significantly negative correlation between duration of disease and pulmonary function, as measured by FEV(1) (r = 0.258, p = 0.04), FVC (r = 0.282, p = 0.28), and the middle half of the FVC (FEF(25-75%)) (r = 0.321, p = 0.014).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pulmonary function in a specific ethnic group of patients with diabetes was impaired as evidenced by a decrease in FVC and FEV(1) compared to pulmonary function in matched controls. Stratification of results by years of disease revealed a significant correlation between duration of disease and a decline in pulmonary function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. smeo@edu.ksu.sa
authors.forename: Sultan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Meo
authors.forename: Abdul Majeed
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Al Drees
authors.forename: Jehangeer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Sayed Fayaz
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Ahmed Shah
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Regaiey
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Rubean