Tobacco consumption is a reversible risk factor associated with reduced successful treatment outcomes of anti-tuberculosis therapy

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the reversible factors that could possibly affect outcomes of anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) treatment. Methods: A retrospective observational nested case-control study was performed to evaluate the association of patient and clinical factors with anti-TB therapy outcomes as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). Results: To examine the impact of a variety of factors on the outcomes of anti-TB treatment, a total of 302 TB patients were included in the study. Univariate analysis revealed that age, gender, concurrent hypertension, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or liver disease, worsened baseline blood urea nitrogen or creatinine, ethambutol 20 cigarettes per day) was significantly associated with a decreased odds of cure or treatment completion (odds ratio 0.23, 95% confidence interval 0.05-0.98, p= 0.047). Conclusions: As smoking significantly inhibits the effectiveness of TB treatment, the integration of smoking cessation into TB treatment programs is strongly advocated to reduce the dual global burden of smoking and TB.