Changes in lung function according to disease extent before and after pulmonary tuberculosis

• Published in: The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 589 - 595
• Main Authors: Ko, Y., Lee, Y-M., Lee, H-Y., Lee, Y. S., Song, J-W., Hong, G-Y., Kim, M-Y., Lee, H-K., Choi, S. J., Shim, E-J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Aged; Cohort Studies; Disease Progression; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Forced Expiratory Volume - physiology; Humans; Impairment; Logistic Models; Lung Function Decline; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium Tuberculosis; Odds Ratio; Predictive Value of Tests; Pulmonary Function; Reference Values; Republic of Korea; Respiratory Function Tests; Retrospective Studies; Risk Assessment; Severity of Illness Index; Time Factors; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - diagnosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - physiopathology; Vital Capacity - physiology; Republic of Korea
• ISSN: 1027-3719; 1815-7920
• DOI: 10.5588/ijtld.14.0454

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in lung function in individuals before and after treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in relation to extent of disease.DESIGN: Using a retrospective cohort design, changes in and predictors of lung function were evaluated.RESULTS: A total of 41 patients were included in the final analysis. The median decline in annualised forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) was 180.0 ml/year (95%CI 118.9-356.1) in advanced PTB and 94.7 ml/year (95%CI 33.4-147.3) in localised PTB (ΔFEV1 % predicted/year 9.4%, 95%CI 4.4-14.0 vs. 3.8%, 95%CI 1.8-6.2). The median decline in annualised forced vital capacity (FVC) was 309.6 ml/year (95%CI 137.0-359.0) in advanced PTB and 101.1 ml/year (95%CI 30.3-219.6) in localised PTB (ΔFVC % predicted/year 7.3%, 95%CI 5.3-12.3 vs. 2.9%, 95%CI 0.9-6.5).CONCLUSIONS: As the sample size of our study was small, the conclusions could be biased. Nevertheless, our findings show that PTB causes a significant decline in lung function even in localised PTB, whereas advanced PTB was associated with excessive or even higher decline. This study suggests that early diagnosis and treatment of PTB is needed to preserve lung function.