Pulmonary Function Abnormalities in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Contrast to Healthy Population

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic multisystem disease that lungs are also affected .However, there are conflicting evidence about the abnormal pulmonary function in diabetic patients. This study evaluated the difference between pulmonary function tests among patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy adults.Material and Methods: This present descriptive cross sectional had been studied in Khorasan Razavi province of Iran from November 2016 to May 2017. The patients with type 2 diabetes which were older than 18 years without history of pulmonary diseases, heart failure, smoking, anemia, musculoskeletal, pulmonary or connective tissue disorders were included in the present study. A group of healthy volunteers participated as a control group with similar age, gender, height and weight to the diabetic participants. Both groups underwent spirometry and body box . Pulmonary function tests among study groups were compared.Results: Total number of 40 diabetic patients as the case group and 40 healthy individuals as control group enrolled in this study. The control group had significantly higher force vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and lower FEV1/FVC (P=0.001, P=0.05 and P=0.001 respectively). Males in diabetic groups had significantly lower FVC and FEV1/FVC (P=0.01 and P=0.003) and diabetic females had significantly higher FVC, FEV1 and lower FEV1/FVC (P=0.001, P=0.05 and P=0.003 respectively). According to the linear regression model, by controlling the effect of gender, diabetes significantly affected both FEV1/FVC and FVC levels.Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that diabetic patients are more likely to develop abnormal pulmonary function and gender can affect the pulmonary function of the diabetic patients.