Diabetic pneumopathy: A study of induced sputum and pulmonary function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective: To evaluate the cellularity, and albumin and interleukin(IL)-1 levels in induced sputum (IS), and to determinerespiratory function parameters in patients with type 2 diabetesmellitus (DM2). Design: A cross-section study in type 2diabetes mellitus. Participants: Patients with type 2 diabetesmellitus and healthy people. Methods: Patients in both groupshad normal chest x-ray findings. Exclusion criteria for bothgroups were: the presence of current pulmonary disease orsequelae, smoking, respiratory atopy, or respiratory infectionin the past 3 months. The study consisted of two sub-studies.In sub-study 1 (SS1), measurements of pulmonary volume andflow, and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) wereperformed. In sub-study 2 (SS2), analysis of cellularity, albumin,and IL-1 in IS was performed. Results: In all, 60 patients(45 women, 75%) with DM2 with a mean age of 59.52 years (SD,9.03) were included in SS1. The DM2 group included 8 patientswith airway obstruction (13.33%) without reversibility withbronchodilators, and 9 with restrictive disease (15.00 %) (p =0.026). The DLCO was reduced in 17 patients (28.33%) in theDM2 group. In the control group, all individuals had valueswithin the reference intervals. Lymphocytosis was found inthe IS of patients with DM2 (p = 0.028). The levels of sputumalbumin showed no statistical difference between the twogroups. Conclusion: Our findings indicate the presence ofpulmonary impairment in DM2, characterized by changes inthe respiratory function and a lymphocytosis in IS.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus type 2; Induced sputum;Lymphocytes.