Effect of Individual Agents on Time to Culture Conversion in Complex Pulmonary Disease.

In a cohort of 534 patients treated for complex pulmonary disease, those who failed to achieve culture conversion were older, had higher proportions of males and cavity presence, were more likely to receive clofazimine and aminoglycosides, but less likely to receive rifampicin, and had a shorter overall treatment duration. Time-varying analysis of individual drug effects on time to culture conversion identified rifampicin as being associated with a reduced culture conversion rate (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.959; 95% confidence interval, .924-.995; = .027), suggesting a potentially negative effect on complex pulmonary disease outcomes, whereas other drugs showed no significant association.