The occurrence of asthma in hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been found to be associated with cardiovascular disease. The goal of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of asthma in patients with type II DM after adjusting for other comorbid conditions. We used patient treatment files of inpatients' admissions containing discharge diagnosis (Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (ICD)-9 codes) from Veterans Health Administration Hospitals. The patients were divided into two groups: ICD-9 code for DM and a control group with hypertension but no DM. ICD-9 codes for asthma were used to study the prevalence of asthma in DM patients versus the control. We performed uni- and multi-variable analysis adjusting for comorbid conditions. Asthma was present in 13 242 (4.5%) of DM patients versus 16 038 (2.9%) in the control group. Using multi-variable analysis, DM remained independently associated with asthma (odds ratio: 2.99; confidence interval: 2.92-3.06; P < 0.0001). The prevalence of asthma is significantly higher in hospitalized patients with type II DM independent of other comorbid conditions. The pathogenesis of this association is not known warranting further investigation.