HIV-related tuberculosis: mortality risk in persons without vs. with culture-confirmed disease
METHODS: We evaluated HIV-positive adults treated for TB at or after their first HIV clinic visit in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Mexico or Peru from 2000 to 2015. Anti-tuberculosis treatment included 2 months of isoniazid, rifampicin (RMP)/rifabutin (RBT), pyrazinamide ± ethambutol, followed by continuation phase treatment with isoniazid + RMP/RBT.
RESULTS: Of 759 TB-HIV patients, 238 (31%) were culture-negative, 228 (30%) had unknown culture status or did not undergo culture and 293 (39%) were culture-positive. The median CD4 at TB diagnosis was 96 (interquartile range 40–228); 636 (84%) received concurrent antiretroviral therapy (ART) and anti-tuberculosis treatment. There were 123 (16%) deaths: 90/466 (19%) with TB culture-negative, unknown or not performed vs. 33/293 (11%) who were TB culture-positive (P = 0.005). In Kaplan-Meier analysis, mortality in TB patients without culture-confirmed disease was higher (P = 0.002). In a Cox model adjusted for age, sex, CD4, ART timing, disease site and stratified by study site, mortality in persons without culture-confirmed TB was not significantly increased compared to those with culture-positive TB (hazard ratio 1.39, 95%CI 0.89–2.16, P = 0.15).
CONCLUSION: Most HIV-positive patients treated for TB did not have culture-confirmed TB, and mortality tended to be higher in patients without culture-confirmed disease, although the association was not statistically different after adjusting for other variables. Accurate TB diagnosis in HIV-positive persons is crucial.
Keywords: Latin America; anti-tuberculosis treatment; culture-negative tuberculosis; human immunodeficiency virus and TB
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico 2: Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA 3: Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru 4: Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5: Hospital Escuela Universitario and Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social, Tegucigalpa, Honduras 6: Fundación Arriarán, University of Chile School of Medicine, Santiago, Chile
Publication date: 01 March 2019
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