Smoking and pulmonary tuberculosis treatment failure: a case-control study

ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the association between smoking and pulmonary tuberculosis
treatment failure. Methods: This was a case-control study conducted at the Brazilian
Institute for Tuberculosis Research in the city of Salvador, Brazil, between 2007 and
2015. We evaluated 284 patients treated for pulmonary tuberculosis, comparing 50
cases of treatment failure with 234 control cases in which the final outcome was cure.

Results: Treatment failure was attributed to smoking and age rather than to gender,
income, level of education, alcohol consumption, or marital status. Therefore, even after
adjustment for age, the risk of treatment failure was 2.1 times (95% CI: 1.1-4.1) higher
among the patients with a history of smoking. In addition, being over 50 years of age
was found to increase the likelihood of treatment failure by 2.8 times (95% CI: 1.4-
6.0).

Conclusions: Smoking and aging are both associated with pulmonary tuberculosis
treatment failure. Therefore, as part of a tuberculosis control program, health personnel
should be prepared to offer strategies to promote smoking cessation and should be more
careful with older patients.

Keywords: Tobacco use disorder; Tuberculosis; Treatment failure.

Clique aqui

• Data de Publicação: 05/01/2019
• Autores: Juan Pablo Aguilar1,a, María B Arriaga2,3,b, Monica Ninet Rodas1,c, Eduardo Martins Netto1,3,4,d