Type 2 diabetes mellitus and recurrent Tuberculosis: A retrospective cohort in Peruvian military workers

Background: The role played by type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) in the occurrence of recurrent tuberculosis is still uncertain. Military personnel are an occupational group with an increased risk for tuberculosis exposure due to their activities. Methods. We conducted a retrospective cohort to study the association between DM2 and recurrent TB in military workers who have been previously treated for tuberculosis at the Central Military Hospital in Lima, Peru, between 2016 and 2017. We evaluated the risk between DM2 and recurrent TB using Nelson-Aalen graphical analysis and Cox regression stratified by TB cured with hazard ratio (HR) calculation adjusted for confounders. Results. We evaluated 220 workers with a mean age of 23.2 ± 7.8 years (96.8 % male). DM2 and recurrent TB frequency were 11.8 % and 5.0 %, respectively. Those with DM (36.5 %) presented a greater proportion of recurrent TB than those without DM2 (10.5 %). The cumulative risk for recurrent TB increases faster among workers with DM2 (p = 0.025, LR chi-squared test). Cox regression stratified by type of cured TB did not show an association between DM2 and recurrent TB (HR: 3.67; 95 %CI: 1.00–13.46). Conclusion. The cumulative risk for recurrent TB increases faster in patients with DM than in those without DM2. DM2 is not associated with the time of apparition of recurrent TB in military workers.