Screening patients with tuberculosis for diabetes mellitus in Ampara, Sri Lanka

Given the well-known linkage between diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB), the World Health Organization recommends bidirectional screening. Here we report the first screening effort of its kind from a chest clinic in the Ampara district of Sri Lanka. Of 112 TB patients registered between January 2013 and October 2014, eight had pre-existing DM. Of those remaining, 83 (80%) underwent fasting plasma glucose testing, of whom two (2%) and 17 (20%) were found to have diabetes and impaired fasting glucose, respectively. All of these were enrolled in care. Screening TB patients for DM was found to be feasible at the district level. Further studies at the provincial/country level are required before making any decision to scale up bidirectional screening.