Patients with lung cancer are at high risk for active tuberculosis (TB) but fragile status and drug-drug interaction might lead TB treatment interrupted. However, the occurrence and the predictors of TB treatment incompletion remain unclear among lung cancer patients.
We recruited patients with lung cancer with new-onset TB from Taiwan Cancer Registry and Taiwanese National Health Insurance databases from 2007 to 2015. TB treatment incompletion was identified as the primary outcome and we analysed the associated risk factors.
A total of 1,155 lung cancer patients were identified with new-onset TB and were classified as treatment incompletion (n=706, 61.13%) and treatment completion (n=449) groups. Gender and age did not differ in both groups. Under multivariable logistic regression, advanced clinical cancer (stage III and IV), and no use of first-line TB drugs were independent factors for treatment incompletion. Old age did not play a role for the treatment incompletion. For the patients survived > 1 year, the independent factors for the incompletion included no first-line TB drugs except pyrazinamide and absence of hypertension. Cancer stage became borderline significance.
High TB treatment incompletion around 65.7% occurred in lung cancer patients. Advanced lung cancer stage and not using of first-line anti-TB drugs but not old age were associated with TB treatment incompletion of lung cancer patients. Hypertension in the patients survived > 1 year might be favourable for TB treatment completion. We need to titrate the TB treatment carefully in lung cancer patients especially with the risk factors to avoid treatment incompletion.

Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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