Comparison of clinical characteristics between rifampin-dependent and rifampin- resistant patients with pulmonary tuberculosis / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the clinical characteristics of rifampin-dependent (R-dependent Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and rifampin-resistant (R-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis) patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data including the demographic data, age groups, course of disease, history of chemotherapy with anti-TB drugs, and results of drug susceptibility test were collected from 61 cases of R-dependent pulmonary tuberculosis and 148 cases of R-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis treated between October, 2008 and January, 2012.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Most of the R-dependent and R-resistant patients were between 30 and 44 years of age. The R-dependent patients included 12 receiving the first treatment patients and 49 with previous treatments, and the R-resistant patients included 11 without and 137 with previous treatments. The multi-drug resistant rate was 80.3% in R-dependent group, as compared to 92.6% in R-resistant group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Most of the patients infected with R-dependent Mycobacterium tuberculosis are young or middle-aged, often having serious disease conditions. Detecting rifampin dependence is important for patients with initial treatment failure. Multi-drug resistance therapy guideline should be applied to patients infected with R-dependent Mycobacterium tuberculosis to improve the cure rate.</p>