Thursday, November 12, 2015

Factors Affecting Time to Sputum Culture Conversion in Adults with Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Historical Cohort Study without Censored Cases

In patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), shortening the time to sputum culture conversion is desirable to reduce the likelihood of mycobacterial transmission. A persistent positive sputum culture after 2 months of treatment is reported to be associated with the presence of cavitation and the extent of disease on chest X-ray, high colony count, diabetes mellitus, and smoking. However, little is known about factors affecting the time to sputum culture conversion. This study was conducted to evaluate factors affecting the time to sputum culture conversion throughout the course of treatment in adults with pulmonary TB.

This study was performed using a database of the medical records of patients with active pulmonary TB who were treated at Hirakata Kohsai Hospital in Hirakata City, Osaka, Japan, from October 2000 to October 2002. Cox proportional-hazards analysis was used to evaluate factors affecting the time to sputum culture conversion after adjusting for potential confounders.

The data of 86 patients with pulmonary TB were analyzed. The median time to sputum culture conversion was 39 days, and the maximum time was 116 days. The Cox proportional-hazards analysis showed that a higher smear grading (HR, 0.40; 95%CI, 0.23–0.71) and a history of ever smoking (HR, 0.48; 95%CI, 0.25–0.94) were associated with delayed sputum culture conversion.

High smear grading and smoking prolonged the time to sputum culture conversion in adults with pulmonary TB. To effectively control TB, measures to decrease the cigarette smoking rate should be implemented, in addition to early detection and timely anti-TB treatment.

Below:  Kaplan-Meier Curve of the time to sputum culture conversion for all patients


Below:  Kaplan-Meier Curves of the time to sputum culture conversion according to smoking history



Below:  Kaplan-Meier Curves of the time to sputum culture conversion according to sputum smear grading



Full article at:  http://goo.gl/DI9w5U

By:
Rie Kanda, Taishi Nagao, Nguyen Van Tho, Yasutaka Nakano
Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan

Emiko Ogawa
Health Administration Center, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan

Yoshitaka Murakami
Department of Medical Statistics, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan

Makoto Osawa
Division of Infection Control and Prevention, Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital, Shiga, Japan

Yoshinori Saika
Department of Radiology, Hirakata Kohsai Hospital, Osaka, Japan

Kenji Doi
Department of Radiology, Morinomiya Hospital, Osaka, Japan
 


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