Frequency of tuberculosis among diabetic patients in the People’s Republic of China

Wang, Hong-Tian; Zhang, Jing; Ji, Ling-Chao; You, Shao-Hua; Bai, Yin; Dai, Wei; Wang, Zhong-Yuan

The People's Republic of China has the second highest incidence of TB worldwide, ranking second only to India. There were 1 million cases of TB and 47,000 deaths from the disease in the People's Republic of China in 2011. 18 The Tibet Autonomous Region has the highest TB prevalence rate. 6 In the People's Republic of China, resistance to TB drugs has been reported at a rate of more than 46%. 8 In 2011, the WHO and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease launched the Collaborative Framework for Care and Control of Tuberculosis and Diabetes. 19, 20 In 2010, the People's Republic of China was estimated to have 1 million incident cases of TB, with 6% of new cases and 26% of retreatment cases exhibiting MDR-TB. 15 Mehra et al 21 used the Tuberculosis Disease Transmission Model to estimate the future drug-susceptible tuberculosis (DS-TB) and MDR-TB burden. The model predicts that by 2050 in the People's Republic of China, the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of DS-TB will decrease by 32%, 50%, and 41%, respectively, whereas those of MDR-TB will increase by 60%, 48%, and 35%, respectively. Reduced DS-TB rates will be a result of high rates of treatment and cure, leading to a decrease in the prevalence of latent TB infection, while the increase in MDR-TB will be due to inappropriate treatment, leading to a high rate of transmission of