Study of Lung Function Tests in Patients of Diabetes Mellitus with Chronic Hyperglycaemia

The present study was carried out to compare the lung function tests in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients with chronic hyperglycaemia on insulin therapy for control of diabetes with healthy controls. Subjects belonging to the age group 25-55 years, males were selected for the study. 80 male subjects, who had known diabetes, attending the diabetic clinic at IGMC, Nagpur were selected. All had chronic hyperglycaemia in spite of being on insulin therapy. These subjects constituted our study group. For comparison 74 healthy male subjects were selected from the general population belonging to the same age and socio-economic status. This constituted the control group. As lung function tests are known to decline with advancing age and taking into consideration that this might be one of the confounding factors for decrease in the value of lung function parameters, we further divided the study group and control group into three subgroups: subgroup i: 25-35 years, subgroup ii: 36- 45 years, subgroup iii: 46-55 years. Lung function tests were studied on Medspirer, computerised spirometer. The study revealed that the forced vital capacity and forced vital capacity at the end of 1st second was reduced in IDDM subjects with chronic hyperglycaemia as compared to control group. Other lung function parameters FEF 25-75%, FEF 0.2-1.2 L, PEFR, MVV did not show any significant alteration in its value in IDDM subjects when compared to the control group. Though many studies have been carried out worldwide to study the lung function tests in diabetic population, in our study we have selected only those patients of diabetes mellitus with chronic hyperglycaemia in spite of being on insulin therapy and studied their lung function tests.