The prevalence of diabetes in a series of patients with subglottic stenosis

Diabetes, which is present in 4 to 8% of adults in the United States, is a risk factor for surgicalfailure in laryngotracheal airway operations. We conducted a retrospective study to characterize a population of patients with subglottic stenosis-including the prevalence of diabetes, which has not been widely reported. We performed a retrospective chart review of 30 patients-22 women and 8 men, aged 17 to 77years (mean: 47.5)-with subglottic stenosis who had presented to our facility between July 2001 and June 2004. Diabetes was present in 5 patients (16.7%); the prevalence of diabetes in our study was not significantly different from regional population-adjusted norms (8%). Although higher-grade stenosis was significantly more common in the diabetic patients than in the nondiabetic patients (p < 0.05), we were unable to conclude that diabetes plays an independent role in the development of subglottic stenosis. We intend to conduct a meta-analysis to assess the role that diabetes plays as both a risk factor for and an obstacle to the treatment to airway stenosis.