Background: Pulmonary exacerbations have a significant morbidity and mortality rate among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. However, there is limited data about factors associated with the severity of exacerbations. Here, we aimed to determine the impact of glucose tolerance on pulmonary exacerbations frequency and severity.
Patients and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 25 CF patients in the age group of 1–17 years in the pediatric pulmonology clinic at the Children's Hospital from the first of July 2021 to the end of July 2022. Glucose tolerance status was determined using the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The patients were classified according to their OGTT results into CF patients with normal glucose tolerance and CF patients with abnormal glucose tolerance. The pulmonary exacerbations during the previous year were recorded among the studied patients, identifying their relationship with glucose tolerance status.
Results: Our analysis showed that 7 (28%) of the studied patients had impaired glucose tolerance status, which was significantly observed among older children compared to infants and young children with CF. Pseudomonas infection was detected in 71.4 percent of CF patients with abnormal glucose tolerance. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the frequency of pulmonary exacerbations and the blood glucose level (p = 0.011).
Conclusions: The current study demonstrated that abnormal glucose tolerance is not uncommon among the studied CF patients. Our results concluded that abnormal glucose tolerance was significantly associated with higher rates of pseudomonas colonization and an increased risk of pulmonary exacerbations.