The hepatic toxicity of antituberculous drugs in tuberculous meningitis patients.

The retrospective analysis of 97 tuberculous meningitis patients, admitted between 1979-1986, revealed the incidence of the hepatic toxicity of antituberculous drugs to be 17.57%. The potential risk factors for the hepatic toxicity were assessed in all patient’s records. They were sex, age, duration of illness, alcoholic consumption, severity of disease, body weight, liver function tests, serum albumin and antituberculous drug combination. The probable risk factors found in the study were body weight under 50 kilograms, and abnormal liver function test. The combination of isoniazid and rifampicin in comparision to isoniazid plus pyrazinamide and rifampicin showed no significant difference of the hepatic toxicity.