[The relationship between the nutritional states of tuberculosis patients at the time of their admission to tuberculosis wards and their treatment results].

OBJECTIVES

To prospectively investigate the relationship between the nutritional states of tuberculosis patients at the time of their admission to tuberculosis wards and their treatment outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We observed body mass index (BMI), peripheral blood lymphocyte count, serum albumin concentration, and induration size in the PPD skin test of a total of 107 tuberculosis patients after they had been newly admitted to NHO Omuta National Hospital during the period from Aug. 2004 to Jul. 2006. Based on these indices, the patients were divided into four groups according to their nutritional states: severely impaired, moderately impaired, mildly impaired or normal.

RESULTS

It was shown that the worse the nutritional state was on admission, the higher the mortality rate from all causes including tuberculosis. There has been no relapse case in patients from this group who have completed tuberculosis treatment despite their poor nutritional states at the start of the treatment.

CONCLUSION

This prospective study of the relationship between the nutritional states of tuberculosis patients on admission and their treatment outcomes reproduced the results obtained from a retrospective study that we had previously reported. The assessment method of the nutritional state that was used in our study was proven to be useful for predicting the prognosis of tuberculosis patients.