J Korean Med Sci.  2017 Apr;32(4):700-703. 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.4.700.

Comparison of Early and Late Tuberculosis Deaths in Korea

• Lee J
• Nam HW
• Choi SH
• Yoo SS
• Lee SY
• Cha SI
• Park JY
• Kim CH

• KMID: 2371459
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.4.700

Abstract

The cause of death in patients with tuberculosis (TB) may differ according to the phase of anti-tuberculosis treatment. However, there are limited data regarding this issue in Korea. We compared the cause of death of TB patients who died during the early intensive and late continuation phase of treatment. Twenty (56%) of the 36 early deaths were due to TB-related causes, whereas 34 (89%) of the 38 late deaths were due to TB-unrelated causes. This finding suggests that TB-related early deaths mainly attributable to delayed diagnosis should be improved to further reduce the overall TB deaths.

Keyword

Tuberculosis; Early Deaths; Late Deaths; Drug Susceptibility Test

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Specific causes of TB-related and TB-unrelated deaths in patients with early and late deaths during anti-TB treatment. TB = tuberculosis, PMC = pseudomembranous colitis.

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  Fig. 2 The monthly distribution of 74 deaths that occurred in 760 patients with tuberculosis.

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