BackgroundSeveral studies have suggested that diabetes mellitus (DM) increases the risk of active tuberculosis (TB). The rising prevalence of DM in TB-endemic areas may adversely affect TB control. We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis of observational studies assessing the association of DM and TB in order to summarize the existing evidence and to assess methodological quality of the studies.Methods and FindingsWe searched the PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify observational studies that had reported an age-adjusted quantitative estimate of the association between DM and active TB disease. The search yielded 13 observational studies (n = 1,786,212 participants) with 17,698 TB cases. Random effects meta-analysis of cohort studies showed that DM was associated with an increased risk of TB (relative risk = 3.11, 95% CI 2.27–4.26). Case-control studies were heterogeneous and odds ratios ranged from 1.16 to 7.83. Subgroup analyses showed that effect estimates were higher in non-North American studies.ConclusionDM was associated with an increased risk of TB regardless of study design and population. People with DM may be important targets for interventions such as active case finding and treatment of latent TB and efforts to diagnose, detect, and treat DM may have a beneficial impact on TB control.

BackgroundMultiple studies of tuberculosis treatment have indicated that patients with diabetes mellitus may experience poor outcomes.We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize evidence for the impact of diabetes on tuberculosis outcomes.MethodsWe searched PubMed, EMBASE and the World Health Organization Regional Indexes from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 2010 and references of relevant articles for reports of observational studies that included people with diabetes treated for tuberculosis. We reviewed the full text of 742 papers and included 33 studies of which 9 reported culture conversion at two to three months, 12 reported the combined outcome of failure and death, 23 reported death, 4 reported death adjusted for age and other potential confounding factors, 5 reported relapse, and 4 reported drug resistant recurrent tuberculosis.ResultsDiabetes is associated with an increased risk of failure and death during tuberculosis treatment. Patients with diabetes have a risk ratio (RR) for the combined outcome of failure and death of 1.69 (95% CI, 1.36 to 2.12). The RR of death during tuberculosis treatment among the 23 unadjusted studies is 1.89 (95% CI, 1.52 to 2.36), and this increased to an effect estimate of 4.95 (95% CI, 2.69 to 9.10) among the 4 studies that adjusted for age and other potential confounding factors. Diabetes is also associated with an increased risk of relapse (RR, 3.89; 95% CI, 2.43 to 6.23). We did not find evidence for an increased risk of tuberculosis recurrence with drug resistant strains among people with diabetes. The studies assessing sputum culture conversion after two to three months of tuberculosis therapy were heterogeneous with relative risks that ranged from 0.79 to 3.25.ConclusionsDiabetes increases the risk of failure and death combined, death, and relapse among patients with tuberculosis. This study highlights a need for increased attention to treatment of tuberculosis in people with diabetes, which may include testing for suspected diabetes, improved glucose control, and increased clinical and therapeutic monitoring.

OBJECTIVE -To systematically evaluate the evidence for an association between physical activity of moderate intensity and risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -We searched EMBASE and Medline throughMarch 2006 and examined reference lists of retrieved articles. We excluded studies that did not assess physical activity of moderate intensity independent of activities of vigorous intensity (more than six times the resting metabolic rate). Information on study design, participant characteristics, assessment of physical activity, and outcomes and estimates of associations were extracted independently by two investigators. We calculated summary relative risks (RRs) using a random-effects model for the highest versus the lowest reported duration of activities.RESULTS -We identified 10 prospective cohort studies of physical activity of moderate intensity and type 2 diabetes, including a total of 301,221 participants and 9,367 incident cases. Five of these studies specifically investigated the role of walking. The summary RR of type 2 diabetes was 0.69 (95% CI 0.58 -0.83) for regular participation in physical activity of moderate intensity as compared with being sedentary. Similarly, the RR was 0.70 (0.58 -0.84) for regular walking (typically Ն2.5 h/week brisk walking) as compared with almost no walking. The associations remained significant after adjustment for BMI. Similar associations were observed in men and women and in the U.S. and Europe.CONCLUSIONS -These findings indicate that adherence to recommendations to participate in physical activities of moderate intensity such as brisk walking can substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 30:744 -752, 2007T he prevalence of type 2 diabetes is high and expected to increase dramatically in the U.S. and worldwide (1). Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease associated with premature mortality and various debilitating complications (2). Intensive treatment regimens can prevent some but not all complications (3). Therefore, primary prevention efforts are clearly needed.Moderately intense physical activities, such as walking and gardening, are the most common forms of activity among adults in the U.S. (4) and may be an easily adoptable, relatively safe means to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Randomized trials have shown that physical activity alone or in conjunction with dietary changes can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes (5-8). However, the intensity of activity required remains unclear because the independent role of moderately intense activities has not been directly examined in these trials.Observational studies have consistently reported an inverse association between physical activity and type 2 diabetes, but most of these studies focused on vigorous activities or physical activity of various intensities combined (e.g., 9,10). In this article, we systematically review the epidemiological evidence on the association between physical activity of moderate intensity and risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -We s...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is most frequently detected at an advanced stage. This limits treatment options and contributes to a dismal 5-year survival rate of 3 to 15%. PDAC is relatively uncommon and with current modalities, screening of the asymptomatic adult population is not feasible or recommended. However, screening of individuals in highrisk groups is undertaken. Here we review high-risk groups for PDAC, including individuals with inherited predisposition and patients with pancreatic cystic lesions. We discuss new studies aimed at finding ways of identifying PDAC in high-risk groups, such as individuals with new-onset diabetes mellitus and those attending primary and secondary care practices with suggestive symptoms. We review early detection biomarkers, explore the potential of exploiting social media for PDAC detection, appraise prediction models developed using electronic health records and research data, and examine the application of artificial intelligence to imaging for the purposes of early PDAC detection.

Background: Observational studies and randomized controlled trials have yielded inconsistent findings about the association between the use of acid-suppressive drugs and the risk of pneumonia. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize this association. Methods:We searched three electronic databases (MEDLIN E [PubMed], Embase and the Cochrane Library) from inception to Aug. 28, 2009. Two evaluators independently extracted data. Because of heterogeneity, we used random-effects meta-analysis to obtain pooled estimates of effect. Results:We identified 31 studies: five casecontrol studies, three cohort studies and 23 randomized controlled trials. A meta-analysis of the eight observational studies showed that the overall risk of pneumonia was higher among people using proton pump inhibitors (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-1.46, I 2 90.5%) and histamine 2 receptor antagonists (adjusted OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.09-1.36, I 2 0.0%). In the randomized controlled trials, use of histamine 2 receptor antagonists was associated with an elevated risk of hospital-acquired pneumonia (relative risk 1.22, 95% CI 1.01-1.48, I 2 30.6%).Interpretation: Use of a proton pump inhibitor or histamine 2 receptor antagonist may be associated with an increased risk of both community-and hospital-acquired pneumonia. Given these potential adverse effects, clinicians should use caution in prescribing acid-suppressive drugs for patients at risk.

Summaryobjective To assess the yield of finding additional TB or diabetes mellitus (DM) cases through systematic screening and to determine the effectiveness of preventive TB therapy in people with DM.methods We systematically reviewed studies that had screened for active TB or implemented preventive therapy for TB among people with DM, and those that screened for DM among patients with TB. We searched published literature through PubMed and EMBASE and included studies that reported the number of TB cases identified among people with DM; the number of DM cases identified among patients with TB, or the relative incidence of TB between people with DM who received a TB prophylaxis and those who did not. We assessed the yield of screening by estimating the prevalence of TB or DM in each study, the prevalence ratio and difference where comparison populations were available, and the number of persons to screen to detect an additional case of TB or DM.results Twelve studies on screening for TB in people with DM and 18 studies on screening for DM in patients with TB met our inclusion criteria. Screening for TB in persons with DM demonstrated that TB prevalence in this population is high, ranging from 1.7% to 36%, and increasing with rising TB prevalence in the underlying population as well as with DM severity. Screening patients with TB for DM also yielded high prevalences of DM ranging from 1.9% to 35%. Two studies examining the role of TB preventive therapy in people with DM did not provide sufficient details for clear evidence of the effectiveness.conclusion Active screening leads to the detection of more TB and DM with varying yield. This review highlights the need for further research in screening and preventive therapy.

OBJECTIVEChronic infections could be contributing to the socioeconomic gradient in chronic diseases. Although chronic infections have been associated with increased levels of inflammatory cytokines and cardiovascular disease, there is limited evidence on how infections affect risk of diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSWe examined the association between serological evidence of chronic viral and bacterial infections and incident diabetes in a prospective cohort of Latino elderly. We analyzed data on 782 individuals aged >60 years and diabetes-free in 1998–1999, whose blood was tested for antibodies to herpes simplex virus 1, varicella virus, cytomegalovirus, Helicobacter pylori, and Toxoplasma gondii and who were followed until June 2008. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the relative incidence rate of diabetes by serostatus, with adjustment for age, sex, education, cardiovascular disease, smoking, and cholesterol levels.RESULTSIndividuals seropositive for herpes simplex virus 1, varicella virus, cytomegalovirus, and T. gondii did not show an increased rate of diabetes, whereas those who were seropositive for H. pylori at enrollment were 2.7 times more likely at any given time to develop diabetes than seronegative individuals (hazard ratio 2.69 [95% CI 1.10–6.60]). Controlling for insulin resistance, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 did not attenuate the effect of H. pylori infection.CONCLUSIONSWe demonstrated for the first time that H. pylori infection leads to an increased rate of incident diabetes in a prospective cohort study. Our findings implicate a potential role for antibiotic and gastrointestinal treatment in preventing diabetes.

Background The treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) presents a major challenge. Second-line antimycobacterial drugs are less effective, more toxic, and more costly than first-line agents, and XDR TB strains are, by definition, resistant to the most potent second-line options: the injectable agents and fluoroquinolones. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess XDR TB treatment outcomes and to identify therapeutic approaches associated with favorable responses. Methods We searched PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify studies conducted through May 2009 that report XDR TB treatment outcomes. Results The search yielded 13 observational studies covering 560 patients, of whom 43.7% (95% confidence interval, 32.8%–54.5%) experienced favorable outcomes, defined as either cure or treatment completion, and 20.8% (95% confidence interval, 14.2%–27.3%) died. Random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression showed that studies in which a higher proportion of patients received a later-generation fluoroquinolone reported a higher proportion of favorable treatment outcomes (P = .012). Conclusions This meta-analysis provides the first empirical evidence that the use of later-generation fluoroquinolones for the treatment of XDR TB significantly improves treatment outcomes, even though drug-susceptibility testing demonstrates resistance to a representative fluoroquinolone. These results suggest that the addition of later-generation fluoroquinolones to XDR TB regimens may improve treatment outcomes and should be systematically evaluated in well-designed clinical studies.