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Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 18, Number 4

Smoking increases risk of recurrence after successful anti-tuberculosis treatment: a population-based study

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OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether tobacco smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis (TB) recurrence and identify factors associated with TB recurrence among adults who had successfully completed anti-tuberculosis treatment in Taipei, Taiwan.

METHODS: Recurrence was defined as a new clinical or microbiological diagnosis of TB requiring the start of a new course of treatment in a patient who had satisfactorily completed treatment for a previous TB episode. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for recurrence.

RESULTS: We followed 5567 adults for recurrence after successful anti-tuberculosis treatment. The mean age was 58.5 years; 62.9% were male. Overall, 84 (1.5%) had a recurrence of TB during follow-up. The incidence of TB recurrence was 4.9 episodes/1000 person-years of follow-up. Cox proportional hazards regression showed that after controlling for other variables, the risk of TB recurrence among subjects who smoked >10 cigarettes a day was double that of never/former smokers. Other independent risk factors significantly associated with TB recurrence were homelessness (aHR 3.75, 95%CI 1.17–12.07), presence of comorbidities (aHR 2.66, 95%CI 1.22–5.79) and a positive acid-fast bacilli smear (aHR 2.27, 95%CI 1.47–3.49).

CONCLUSION: Smoking >10 cigarettes a day was significantly associated with TB recurrence. To reduce the risk of recurrence, we recommend including effective measures of smoking cessation in TB control programmes, as recommended by the World Health Organization Stop TB Strategy.

Keywords: Taiwan; recurrence; smoking; tuberculosis

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Section of Infectious Diseases, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City Government, Taipei, Taiwan 2: Department of Disease Control and Prevention, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City Government, Taipei, Taiwan 3: Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 4: Taipei Databank for Public Health Analysis, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City Government, Taipei, Taiwan 5: Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan 6: Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Publication date: 01 April 2014

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  • 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.

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