COPD A Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes

“Inflammation plays a key role in COPD and asthma.” Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but not asthma, may be a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.
"Inflammation plays a key role in COPD and asthma," Dr. Carlos A. Camargo, Jr. of the Channing Laboratory in Boston and colleagues write. "Increasing evidence points toward a role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes."

The researchers examined the association between COPD and asthma and the development of type 2 diabetes among participants in the Nurses’ Health Study. A total of 103,614 female nurses completed questionnaires every 2 years from 1988 to 1996 to update information on newly diagnosed emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and diabetes.

A total of 2959 new cases of type 2 diabetes were documented during 8 years of follow-up. Patients with COPD were significantly more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those without COPD (multivariate relative risk 1.8).

In contrast, the asthmatic patients did not have a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes (multivariate relative risk 1.0).
Additional prospective studies are needed to investigate the relationship between these two conditions and to "examine cytokine profiles (both Th1 and Th2) in COPD or asthmatic patients who go on to develop type 2 diabetes," Dr. Camargo’s group adds.
"Moreover, future prospective studies might examine whether COPD or asthma are associated with increased risk of other diseases with an inflammatory component, such as atherosclerosis."

Diabetes Care 2004;27:2478-2484.
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FACT:
”In the next 10 years, 80 percent of all heart disease will be due to type 2 diabetes."
Dr. Heber, director of UCLA’s Center for Human Nutrition