issueIsCached = function(issue_id) {
    var rowLength;
    db.transaction(function(tx) {

        tx.executeSql('SELECT * FROM issues', [], function (tx, results) {
            rowLength = results.rows.length;
        }, null);

    });
    return rowLength;
}

consoloe.log( issueIsCached(1) ) // 0 or row length