Lung function declines faster in diabetic adults, says study

Adults with diabetes appear to have a lower baseline lung function and are predisposed to faster deterioration, according to a 16-year follow-up study.

A team of investigators prospectively followed 6,483 individuals aged 40‒69 years from two community-based cohorts for 16 years. They assessed lung function at baseline using a spirometer and conducted lung function tests biennially thereafter. They also performed a multivariable linear regression analysis for the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses based on diabetes status.

Of the participants, 2,114 (32.6 percent) were prediabetic and 671 (10.4 percent) were diabetic. Compared with individuals with normoglycaemia, those with prediabetes and diabetes had lower baseline % predicted values of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁; prediabetes: mean, ‒1.853, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], ‒2.715 to ‒0.990; diabetes: mean, ‒4.088, 95 percent CI, ‒5.424 to ‒2.752) and forced vital capacity (FVC; prediabetes: mean, ‒2.087, 95 percent CI, ‒2.837 to ‒1.337; diabetes: mean, ‒4.622, 95 percent CI, ‒5.784 to ‒3.460) after adjusting for relevant covariates.

During follow-up, the diabetes group showed a faster rate of decline in FEV₁% predicted (mean, −0.227, 95 percent CI, –0.366 to −0.089) and FVC % predicted (mean, −0.232, 95 percent CI, –0.347 to −0.117) than the normoglycaemia group. Diabetic participants also had a lower proportion of normal ventilation (p_trend=0.048) and higher proportions of restrictive (p_trend=0.001) and mixed (p_trend=0.035) ventilatory disorders at the last follow-up.