Is Diabetes a Marker for Reduced Lung Capacity?

June 1, 2008

A study in the April issue of Diabetes Care shows that people with diabetes encounter a faster loss of lung capacity than those who do not have diabetes.

Research confirmed previous suggestions that the lung is a target organ for diabetic injury and that lung abnormalities accelerate once diabetes takes hold. Previous research established that decreased lung capacity precedes and may predict a diagnosis of diabetes. The new study is accompanied by an editorial that concludes that diminished lung function may contribute to diabetes morbidity and mortality.

Specifically, the study found that people with type 2 diabetes experienced a more rapid decline in forced vital capacity than people who did not have diabetes. Though all people experience a decline in forced vital capacity as they age, people with diabetes appear to undergo a more rapid loss that appears before the diabetes diagnosis and accelerates after the disease sets in.

Possible explanations include that high blood sugar levels stiffen the lung tissue, or that fat tissue in the chest and abdomen may confine the lungs more in people with diabetes, explained researchers. The study advised clinicians to “pay heightened attention to pulmonary function in their patients with type 2 diabetes.”