OBJECTIVE: To verify the prevalence of tendinitis and/or enthesopathy in diabetic patients and its relationship to with age, type and duration of diabetes as well as glycemic control. METHODS: We studied 55 normal controls (23 males and 32 females) and 149 diabetic patients (64 males and 85 females); 12 of them with type 1 diabetes and 137 with type 2. We performed physical examination for tendinitis and determination of fasting glycemic levels and hemoglobin (Hb) A1C. RESULTS: We found that 3.6% (n = 2) of normal persons, and 32.31% of diabetic patients (n = 48) had tendinitis and/or enthesopathy. The frequency of tendinitis and/or enthesopathy in diabetic patients was similar in both gender and we could not find a relationship with age, disease duration and diabetes type. Concerning glycemic control, we found that patients with tendinitis had a glycemic medium level higher than those without it, but no significant statistical difference could be demonstrated, happening the same with HbA1C. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that diabetic patients have a high prevalence of tendinitis and/or enthesopathy, which does not depend on disease duration or diabetes type. Fasting glycemia and HbA1C do not reflect collagen metabolism changes that favor enthesophaties and tendinitis in these patients.
diabetes mellitus; tendinitis; enthesopathy
