Pulmonary Pathology Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Restrictive lung pathology was reported in the previous meta-analysis among patients with Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) which is date back to 2010.

Objective: To see the effect of T2DM on pulmonary functions through updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data source: PubMed.

Study Eligibility Criteria: English language case-control or cross-sectional studies, published between 1 January 2010 to 31 August 2018.

Participants and Intervention: T2DM and non-diabetic subjects were compared for at least one of the pulmonary function variables i.e. Forced expiratory volume in 1st second (FEV1), % FEV1, Forced vital capacity (FVC), % FVC and % FEV1/FVC.

Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Methodological quality of the study was assessed using Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Meta-analysis was done using Review Manager 5.3 (RevMan 5.3) and meta-regression was conducted using R statistical software.

Results: We selected 22 articles that met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results reveal that among patients with T2DM all variables were reduced except %FEV1/FVC which shows statistically nonsignificant results with P=0.46. This confirms that T2DM patients have a restrictive type of lung pathology.

Limitation: Only articles from the PubMed database were included.

Conclusion and Implications of Key Findings: This review affirms the existing evidence of restrictive pathology among patients with T2DM. The future study could be conducted to see the effect of various rehabilitation protocols on pulmonary function among patients with T2DM.