title: Diabetes Mellitus among Newly Diagnosed Tuberculosis Patients in Tribal Odisha: An Exploratory Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The association between Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Tuberculosis (TB) poses a strong public health challenge. Tribal ethnics possess a different propensity towards infectious and haematological diseases which may influence the inter-relationship of DM and TB and thus merit separate attention.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of diabetes in newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients of tribal ethnicity in Odisha.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 9 months at four designated TB microscopic centres in a tribal district (Malkangiri) of Odisha. A total of 110 tribal adults newly diagnosed with pulmonary TB were examined for Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) level. Diagnosis of DM and Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) were based on cut-off value of FBS recommended by the WHO. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 22.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of diabetes and IFG are found to be 13.9% and 8.9%, respectively. A significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between the mean ages of the TB only (45.9 years) and TB-DM co-morbidity patients (53.8 years). No significant association was found between gender and diabetes. Clinical characteristics of TB were similar in TB and TB-DM co-morbidity patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of high FBS was found to be higher in newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients of tribal ethnicity thus indicating the need for intensified bidirectional screening. Further studies should be undertaken towards the risk profiling of diabetes and other lifestyle diseases in this population.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, KIMS, KIIT University , Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India .
authors.forename: Magna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manjareeka
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Public Health - Bhubaneswar, Public Health Foundation of India, Odisha, India .
authors.forename: Subrata Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Palo
authors.affiliation: Tutor, Indian Institute of Public Health - Bhubaneswar, Public Health Foundation of India, Odisha, India .
authors.forename: Subhashisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Swain
authors.affiliation: Disease Surveillance Medical Officer, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India .
authors.forename: Sandipana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pati
authors.affiliation: Additional Professor, Indian Institute of Public Health - Bhubaneswar, Public Health Foundation of India, Odisha, India .
authors.forename: Sanghamitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pati
keywords: Co-morbidity; Inter-relationship; Newly diagnosed tuberculosis; Screening