ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem with increasing incidence worldwide and long term complications of various organs including lungs. The magnitude of the complications of this disease is related to its duration. Objective: To observe PEFR and FEF25-75 in type 2 diabetic male and their relationship with duration of the disease. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, BSMMU, Dhaka, from 1st July 2007 to 30th June 2008 on 60 type 2 diabetic, non smoker, male of 40-60 years old. For comparison, 30 age, BMI and socioeconomic status matched apparently healthy non diabetic subjects were also studied. Based on the duration of disease, diabetic patients were divided into B1 (5-10 years) and B2 (10-20 years). PEFR and FEF25-75 of all the subjects were measured by an electronic spirometer. Data were analyzed by One way ANOVA, Unpaired Student’s ‘t’ and Pearson’s correlation coefficient tests. Results: The mean percentage of predicted values of PEFR and FEF25-75 in non diabetic male were within normal ranges. But, both the parameters were significantly (p<0.001) lower in both the groups of type 2 diabetic male compared to those of non diabetic male. Again, the PEFR and FEF25-75 were lower in the patients of longer duration compared to those of shorter duration but the differences were not significant. However, PEFR was negatively correlated and FEF25-75 was positively correlated with shorter duration of diabetes and the relationships were nonsignificant. On the other hand, both the parameters were negatively correlated with longer duration of diabetes while only PEFR showed significant (p<0.01) relationship. Conclusion: The PEFR and FEF25-75 may be lower in type 2 diabetic male, which are inversely related to the duration of the disease.