Malik A, Yunus F, Harahap F, Rochismandoko. J Respir Indones. 2010;30(3):159-65.
Introduction. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder. DM affects various organs of human body. Hyperglycaemic state can reduce lung function by decreasing elastin proteins and lung surfactans. Moreover, it can cause diffusion perfusion disorders. Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) describes previous 3 months of patient’s glycaemic state. HbA1c is a gold standard to determine controlled and uncontrolled DM patients. In a recent study, diabetic patients with HbA1c below 6.5% have better lung function than those above 6.5%.
Methods. We conducted a study to analyze 60 DM patients who came to endocrinology clinic in Persahabatan Hospital Jakarta Indonesia from May–August 2008. We divided DM type 2 patients in two groups (controlled and uncontrolled). Patient’s interview, physical examination and chest X-rays were performed to excluded lung diseases. Fasting and post prandial blood glucose, body mass index (BMI) and lung function test (forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 second) were measured.
Results. We studied 60 DM patient of which 40% were male (24 of 60) and 60% were female (36 of 60). The majority of patients was 50 to 65 y.o and the mean age was 56.9 + 7.35 y.o. We found that 32 patients had HbA1c above 6.5% and 28 patients below 6.5%. The uncontrolled patients group showed forced vital capacity (FVC) 82.5% of predicted compared to 90.6% in controlled patient (P=0.001) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) of controlled patient was 88.6% of predicted compared to 87.6% of predicted in uncontrolled patient (P=0.728).
Conclusions. Decreasing of FVC in uncontrolled diabetes mellitus patients is more significant than in controlled DM patients. However, decreased FEV1 between the two groups was not significantly different. This study showed a correlation between decreased FVC and uncontrolled DM. Uncontrolled DM is found to have a more severe lung restriction than controlled DM.
Keywords : Diabetes mellitus, HbA1c, FVC, FEV1