Skip to main content
Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 17, Number 7

Overall and cause-specific mortality among patients with tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Buy Article:

$34.78 + tax (Refund Policy)

OBJECTIVE: To assess overall and cause-specific mortality among patients with tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Estonia.

DESIGN: A total of 2449 patients diagnosed with active respiratory TB from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2009 were followed up retrospectively until 31 December 2011. To estimate the risk of death, standardised mortality ratios (SMR) and mortality rate ratios (RR) were calculated.

RESULTS: The SMR for all-cause mortality among those diagnosed with TB was 5.30 (95%CI 4.85–5.75) in males and 10.00 (95%CI 8.25–11.74) in females. The relative risk of death from TB was higher among MDR-TB patients (adjusted RR in males 2.98, 95%CI 2.00–4.44, and in females 3.26, 95%CI 1.42–7.50) than among non-MDR-TB patients. Among the cohort of successfully treated patients, the SMR for all-cause mortality was 3.46 (95%CI 3.08–3.84) in males and 6.24 (95%CI 4.86–7.88) in females. Lower education level and foreign ethnicity contributed to the higher risk of mortality. Previous history of successfully treated MDR-TB did not increase the risk of death compared to successfully treated non-MDR-TB.

CONCLUSIONS: Mortality among successfully treated TB and MDR-TB patients remained higher than among the general population. It was influenced by foreign ethnicity and lower education but, importantly, not by previous history of MDR-TB.

Keywords: Estonia; MDR-TB; TB; mortality; standardised mortality ratio

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Reykjavik Health Care Services, Reykjavik, Iceland 2: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia 3: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia 4: Estonian Tuberculosis Registry, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia

Publication date: 01 July 2013

More about this publication?

  • The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is for clinical research and epidemiological studies on lung health, including articles on TB, TB-HIV and respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, asthma, COPD, child lung health and the hazards of tobacco and air pollution. Individuals and institutes can subscribe to the IJTLD online or in print – simply email us at [email protected] for details.

    The IJTLD is dedicated to understanding lung disease and to the dissemination of knowledge leading to better lung health. To allow us to share scientific research as rapidly as possible, the IJTLD is fast-tracking the publication of certain articles as preprints prior to their publication. Read fast-track articles.

  • Editorial Board
  • Information for Authors
  • Subscribe to this Title
  • International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
  • Public Health Action
  • Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Share Content

  • Access Key
  • Free content
  • Partial Free content
  • New content
  • Open access content
  • Partial Open access content
  • Subscribed content
  • Partial Subscribed content
  • Free trial content