Abstract: Objective  To study the nutrition status of elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) and explore the nutrition improvement advice for them.  Methods  All patients were assigned to 3 groups: elderly PTB and DM as group A (n=65), elderly PTB as group B (n=65), and elderly normal public group as group C (n=65). Five parameters were chosen to analyze the nutrition status, including body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin (Hb), total lymphocyte count (TLC) of PBMC, serum albumin (Alb), and creatinine-height index using t test and χ² test.  Results   (1) These five parameters (BMI, Hb, TLC, Alb, and creatinine-height index) were measured in three groups: x±s of  the five parameters were (18.09±1.88), (119.30±13.51) g/L, (1.21±0.39)×10⁹/L, (29.76±4.88) g/L, and 75.44%±7.23% in group A, respectively;  x±s  were 18.53±2.05,(126.31±8.76) g/L,(1.28±0.13)×10⁹/L,(37.44±5.46) g/L, and 76.53%±8.44% in group B, respectively;  x±s were (21.11±2.11), (132.34±8.84) g/L, (2.93±0.53)×10⁹/L,(43.21±7.54) g/L, and 86.09%±6.75% in group C, respectively. Significant differences were found in these five parameters in the elderly PTB with DM group and elderly normal public group, also seen in elderly PTB group and elderly normal public group (t_AC=8.58,6.77, 6.76, 12.03, 8.66, respectively;  t_BC=7.05,3.89, 20.98, 4.98, 5.28, respectively, all P<0.01). The incidence of malnutrition according to HB, Alb of the elderly PTB with DM group was higher than that in the elderly PTB group（t=3.51, 8.43 respectively, all P<0.01）.  (2) The incidence of malnutrition according of group A was 44.6%, 52.3%, 80.0%, 64.6%, 46.2%, respectively; the incidence of malnutrition according of group B was 38.5%,49.2%,76.9%,46.2%,41.5%, respectively; and the incidence of malnutrition according of group C  was 6.2%, 6.2%, 0%, 4.6%, 7.7%, respectively. The incidence of malnutrition in group A and B were both higher than that in group C (χ²_AC=23.4, 31.3, 79.7, 44.0, 24.4, respectively;  χ²_BC=17.8, 28.0, 74.3, 27.5, 20.1, respectively，all P<0.01）.  Conclusion  The incidence of malnutrition is higher in the patients of the elderly PTB with DM and these patients should balance their food choices.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary/complications, Diabetes mellitus, Nutritional status, Aged