Frequency of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in patients with herpes zoster

Aim: to determine the frequency of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in patients with herpes zoster. study design: it was a descriptive cross sectional study. duration of study: from january 2012 to june 2012. method: all diagnosed cases of herpes zoster of either gender,≥18 years of age enrolled from the department of dermatology,military hospital,rawalpindi. result: majority of the patients i.e.,59(59%) having >50 years of age,62(62%) were male while frequency of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in patients with herpes zoster was recorded in 44(44%) of cases while 56(56%) had no findings of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. conclusion: the frequency of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus is higher among patients with herpes zoster. so,it is recommended that every patient who present with herpes zoster,should be sort out for diabetes mellitus. however,it is also required that every setup should have their surveillance in order to know the frequency of the problem.