Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in individuals with airflow obstruction in a Japanese general population: The Yamagata-Takahata Study.

Background: Diabetes has been reported as a comorbidity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Western countries, but it has not been demonstrated in epidemiological reports in Japan. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the relationship between airflow obstruction and diabetes can be confirmed in a Japanese general population.

Methods: From 2004 to 2006, blood sampling and pulmonary function tests were performed on 3045 people over the age of 40 years in annual health check-ups held in Takahata, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Pulmonary function was re-evaluated in 2009 and 2011.

Results: The prevalence of diabetes did not differ between subjects with and without airflow obstruction. Furthermore, although body mass index decreased, no increase in the prevalence of diabetes was observed with the progression of airflow obstruction. The annual changes in forced expiration volume in 1s (FEV1) did not differ depending on the presence or absence of diabetes in the study population.

Conclusion: There was no difference in the prevalence of diabetes between subjects with airflow obstruction and those without. As patients with COPD in Japan are thinner than in the West, diabetes may not be a common comorbidity in Japanese patients with COPD.