Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. According to WHO, India will be the Diabetic capital of the world by 2025, as every fifth diabetic in the world is an Indian. Though there are many studies centered towards the systemic complications of diabetes mellitus including coronary artery disease, nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy, the pulmonary complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus are rarely studied. So the present study focuses on lung functions which are attributable to type 2 diabetes mellitus. Aim and Objective: To evaluate the pulmonary functions in type2 diabetic patients and to compare them with healthy subjects Materials and Methods: This case control study was conducted in the Department of physiology, Chengelpet as Dharmapuri Medical College, Dharmapuri. Fifty type 2 diabetic patients on oral hypoglycemic treatment, of the age group 40 -60yrs, duration not less than 5yrs were randomly selected for study group from the Diabetes Outpatient Department. Age, gender and BMI matched fifty healthy individuals were selected for control group. Pulmonary function test parameters Forced vital capacity(FVC), Forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1)and Forced expiratory volume in first second to Forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC ratio)were recorded in percentage of predicted value using spirometry by following American Thoracic Society Guidelines. Results: Analyzed statistically by using student’s unpaired‘t’-test. It shows significant decrease of FVC and FEV1 in type 2 diabetic individuals compared to controls, whereas FEV1/FVC ratio was increased but not statistically significant. Conclusion: Thus in our study restrictive pattern of respiratory abnormality is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hence periodical assessment of lung function in type 2 diabetics could be done to avert the respiratory complications.
