title: Screening patients with tuberculosis for diabetes mellitus in Ampara, Sri Lanka.
abstract: Given the well-known linkage between diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB), the World Health Organization recommends bidirectional screening. Here we report the first screening effort of its kind from a chest clinic in the Ampara district of Sri Lanka. Of 112 TB patients registered between January 2013 and October 2014, eight had pre-existing DM. Of those remaining, 83 (80%) underwent fasting plasma glucose testing, of whom two (2%) and 17 (20%) were found to have diabetes and impaired fasting glucose, respectively. All of these were enrolled in care. Screening TB patients for DM was found to be feasible at the district level. Further studies at the provincial/country level are required before making any decision to scale up bidirectional screening.
authors.affiliation: District Chest Clinic, Ampara, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rajapakshe
authors.affiliation: Médecins Sans Frontières, Operational Research Unit, Operational Centre Brussels, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Isaakidis
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Sagili
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: A M V
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samaraweera
authors.affiliation: National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pallewatta
authors.affiliation: National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jayakody
authors.affiliation: District Chest Clinic, Ampara, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nissanka
keywords: diabetes mellitus; screening; tuberculosis