The Effect of Diabetes mellitus on the Outcome of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbated due to Respiratory Infections

Abstract

During the last 2 years, 597 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbated due to respiratory infections were treated in our department. Eighty-eight (14.7%) of them suffered from diabetes mellitus (DM). Thirty-four had insulin-dependent DM and 54 non-insulin-dependent DM. In these groups, we studied the duration of hospitalization, their clinical features, chest X-rays, blood tests (white blood cells, erythrocyte sedimentation rate), blood gases and the sputum culture for bacteria. The paired t test was used for statistical analysis. Our results showed that the mean duration of hospitalization in patients with DM was 10.76 ± 2.7 days (X ± SD), whereas for patients without DM it was 8.53 ± 1.9 days. Patients with insulin-dependent DM had a mean hospitalization of 15.63 ± 3.6 days, which was statistically significant in relation to the group without DM (p