The Effects of Pioglitazone on Respiratory Function Test in Patients with Asthma and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus- A before –after Study

Pioglitazone is one of the oral medications of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of pioglitazone on asthma and diabetes treatment outcomes among patients with concurrent asthma and T2DM.

We conducted a quasi-experimental study on 11 patients with concurrent asthma and T2DM in Yazd Afshar Hospital and Yazd diabetic research center 2014-2017. The inclusion criteria were patients between 20-60 years old, at least one year with concurrent asthma and T2DM (documented with spirometer, bronchodilator test), ejection fraction more than 50%. Patients who were smoker, on oral corticosteroids, phenobarbital, methotrexate, rifampin, phenytoin and gemfibrozil were excluded. Laboratory tests (FBS, HbA1c, 2hpp, leptin), spirometer test, exhaled nitric oxide were done before and after 10 weeks of pioglitazone medication. All patients were visited every two weeks. The before and after pioglitazone treatment differences were checked by paired t-test and Wilcoxon Rank sum test.

The mean (± SD) age of participants was 55.81 (±7.66). The median of differences of leptin (p-value: 0.885), FEV1 to FVC (P-value: 0.185), FEV1 (p-value: 0.386), NO (P-value: 0.574), FVC percent (P-value: 0.477), FEV1 percent (P-value: 0.515) did not differ before and after pioglitazone treatment.   

Our finding suggested that pioglitazone may not be effective in the treatment and improvement of respiratory function in T2DM with concurrent asthma.