ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is an important risk factor for pulmonary tuberculosis and can result to adverse treatment outcomes. AIM: This was a cross-sectional study designed to assess prognostic value of some serum protein fractions in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) subjects at Oron, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Thirty (30) TB subjects on Anti-tuberculosis therapy, thirty (30) drug naive TB subjects and thirty (30) apparently healthy control subjects aged 21-52 (35 ± 16) years were conveniently recruited. METHODS: Total protein and albumin were measured colourimetrically, Albumin-globulin ratio was calculated while demographic data was obtained using questionnaire. RESULTS: BMI (kg/m2), Albumin (g/dl) and AGR were significantly lower in TB subjects with or without ATT when compared with control subjects (p < 0.000 respectively), but higher in PTB subjects on ATT when compared with drug naive PTB subjects (p = 0.000 respectively). Serum Total protein (g/dl) level in PTB subjects with or without ATT was significantly higher when compared with controls (p = 0.004) while globulin (g/dl) level was lower in PTB subjects on ATT when compared with drug naive PTB subjects (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Decreased BMI in TB subjects signifies reduction in muscle mass and wasting precipitated by PTB infection, while depleted albumin and AGR suggests high degree of malnutrition. Increased albumin and AGR in PTB subjects on ATT suggests improvement with ATT. Assessment of serum albumin and AGR may serve as affordable and early index of clinical recovery in PTB subjects especially in resource limited settings, and may be more reliable than the traditionally used BMI.
