Pulmonary function impairment in diabetic older individuals

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic individuals have several complications, such as diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy as well as an increased mortality risk and impairment in health-related quality of life. Despite some authors have suggested that pulmonary function reduction might be a chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), there are doubts whether the pulmonary function decrease is really caused by DM itself or if it represents a deleterious impact of ageing process. AIMS: This study aimed to compare respiratory muscle strength and pulmonary function in diabetic and nondiabetic elderly patients as well as to evaluate a possible correlation of this effect with glycemic control. METHHODS: For this case-control study, older adults (age over 60 years old) were randomly selected from an ageing study (EELO project) and they were separated in Diabetic (DG) and non-diabetic group (referred ascontrol group, CG). Respiratory muscle strength was assessed by measuring maximum static inspiratory and expiratory pressures (MIP and MEP) using manovacuometer, while pulmonary function was evaluated by spirometry (considering the following variables: FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC). All the variables were presented as % of predicted values, corrected for Brazilian population. RESULTS: 255 older adults were enrolled at this study (85 diabetic and 170 non-diabetic patients). Diabetic individuals presented lower MIP (p=0.03), FVC (p=0.02) and FEV1 (p=0.02) when compared to nondiabetic individuals. However, no differences were observed concerning MEP and FEV1/FVC between the groups. Positive correlations between glycemic control and FVC (rS: -0.14; p=0.02) and between glycemic control and FEV1 (RS: -0.16; p=0.01) were observed according to Sperman Correlation. CONCLUSION: According to these results, it can be concluded that diabetic patients show respiratory muscle weakness and decline of pulmonary function in comparison to non-diabetic individuals. Therefore, it can be suggested that pulmonary function evaluation should be recommended at the evaluation of diabetes’chronic complications