Prevalence and associated factors of TB among DM patients attending public health facilities in Ethiopia

• Who: The study involved diabetic mellitus (DM) patients aged 15 years and older attending selected public health facilities in Ethiopia, with 14,119 DM patients screened for tuberculosis (TB) and 652 symptomatic individuals enrolled; participants were predominantly female, urban residents, and living mainly with type II DM, many with long-standing disease and multiple comorbidities.

• What: The study found a high TB burden among DM patients, with an overall TB prevalence of 11.2% among TB-presumptive individuals and a point prevalence of 517 per 100,000 among all screened DM patients; pulmonary TB was most common, and younger age, cigarette smoking, contact with TB cases, HIV infection, poor glycemic control, insulin-only treatment, and longer duration of diabetes were independently associated with TB.

• When: Data were collected over a one-year period from January to December 2023.

• Where: The study was conducted in 11 public health facilities across five regions of Ethiopia—Oromia, Southern Ethiopia, Sidama, Addis Ababa, and Dire Dawa—with laboratory confirmation performed at the national reference laboratory.

• Why: The research aimed to address limited national evidence on the epidemiology of TB among diabetic patients in Ethiopia, a setting with high TB endemicity and a rising burden of diabetes, to inform integrated TB–DM screening and prevention strategies.

• How: A multicenter cross-sectional design was used, incorporating symptom-based TB screening, standardized questionnaires, and laboratory diagnostics including smear microscopy, culture, and Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assays, with multivariable logistic regression applied to identify factors independently associated with TB.

Source: Alemu, A., Seid, G., Diriba, G., Hailu, M., Dange, B., Moga, S., Melese, D., Tadesse, G., Mariam, S.H., Berhe, N. and Gumi, B., 2025. Prevalence and associated factors of tuberculosis among diabetic patients attending public health facilities in Ethiopia: a multicenter study. Archives of Public Health, 83(1), pp.1-15.