Prevalence trends, population characteristics and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis combined with diabetes in Southwest China: a register-based retrospective study.

Background: The global situation regarding the prevention and control of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) remains challenging. With the ongoing aging population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the epidemic of comorbid pulmonary tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus (PTB-DM) presents challenges to PTB control. We conducted this study given that current research on PTB-DM has primarily focused on clinical medicine and immunology, with limited reports on the true prevalence of population-wide PTB-DM in specific regions, as well as the heightened risk of PTB-DM co-prevalence due to aging and the high prevalence of DM in Chongqing, Southwest China.