Risk factors for early mortality in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis admitted to the emergency room
R. Singla,
B. Raghu,
A. Gupta,
J.A. Caminero,
P. Sethi,
D. Tayal,
A. Chakraborty,
Y. Jain,
G.B. Migliori
Affiliations
R. Singla
Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, 110030, India; Corresponding author at: Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi 110030, India.
B. Raghu
Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, 110030, India
A. Gupta
Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, 110030, India
J.A. Caminero
Pneumology Department, Hospital General de Gran Canaria “Dr. Negrin”, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35010, Spain; MDR-TB Unit, Tuberculosis Division, International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris 75006, France
P. Sethi
Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, 110030, India
D. Tayal
Department of Biochemistry, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi 110030, India
A. Chakraborty
Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, 110030, India
Y. Jain
Jan Swasthya Sahyog, Bilaspur, Ganiyari, Chhattisgarh 495112, India
G.B. Migliori
Servizio di Epidemiologia Clinica delle Malattie Respiratorie, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Tradate, 21049, Italy; Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, 4 Newark St, Whitechapel, London E1 2AT, United Kingdom
Background and objectives: Mortality of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) admitted to emergency departments is high. This study was aimed at analysing the risk factors associated with early mortality and designing a risk score based on simple parameters. Methods: This prospective case-control study enrolled patients admitted to the emergency department of a referral TB hospital. Clinical, radiological, biochemical and microbiological risk factors associated with death were compared among patients dying within one week from admission (cases) and those surviving (controls). Results: Forty-nine of 250 patients (19.6%) experienced early mortality. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that oxygen saturation (SaO2) ≤90%, severe malnutrition, tachypnoea, tachycardia, hypotension, advanced disease at chest radiography, severe anaemia, hyponatremia, hypoproteinemia and hypercapnia were independently and significantly associated with early mortality. A clinical scoring system was further designed to stratify the risk of death by selecting five simple parameters (SpO2 ≤ 90%, tachypnoea, hypotension, advanced disease at chest radiography and tachycardia). This model predicted early mortality with a positive predictive value of 94.88% and a negative predictive value of 19.90%. Conclusions: The scoring system based on simple parameters may help to refer severely ill patients early to a higher level to reduce mortality, improve success rates, minimise the need for pulmonary rehabilitation and prevent post-treatment sequelae.
