Diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with tuberculosis in Indonesia.

Methods: Diabetes mellitus is a known risk factor for tuberculosis (TB), but no studies have been reported from South-East Asia, which has a high burden of TB and a rapidly growing prevalence of diabetes.

Objective: To examine if and to what extent diabetes is associated with an increased risk of TB in an urban setting in Indonesia.

Methods: Case-control study comparing the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (fasting blood glucose level >126 mg/dl) among newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients and matched neighbourhood controls.

Results: Patients and control subjects had a similar age (median 30 years) and sex distribution (52% male), but malnutrition was more common among TB patients (median body mass index 17.7 vs. 21.5 kg/m2). HIV infection was uncommon (1.5% of patients). Diabetes mellitus was present in 60 of 454 TB patients (13.2%) and 18 of 556 (3.2%) control subjects (OR 4.7; 95%CI 2.7-8.1). Adjustment for possible confounding factors did not reduce the risk estimates. Following anti-tuberculosis treatment, hyperglycaemia reverted in a minority (3.7%) of TB patients.

Conclusions: Diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with TB in young and non-obese subjects in an urban setting in Indonesia. This may have implications for TB control and patient care in this region.