Co-morbidity of tuberculosis, alcoholism and drug dependence

One of the reasons of growing incidence of tuberculosis (TB) is spread of AIDS, drug dependence, and alcoholism. To investigate their mutual influence the authors examined 185 lung TB patients (of them, 124 males) admitted to TB hospitals of St-Petersburg in 2003-2005. Inclusive criteria were age of 18 to 79 yrs, recent admission to the hospital, the patient's consent to participate the study. Patients were excluded if they were severely ill or had psychiatric disorders. The lung TB was evaluated using medical history, physical, clinic, laboratory, radiologic, and bacteriologic data. Alcohol and drug abuse was assessed with Addiction Severity Index (ASI), retrospective analysis of alcohol and substance use for previous 90 days, Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST), measurement of alcohol in exhaled air and detection of substances in urine. Somatic and psychic health was evaluated using ASI, Beck Depression Inventory, and Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory. Risk of HIV-infection was determined in a test of HIV risk assessment and with HIV risk questionnaire developed at Johns Hopkins University. The average age of the participants was 40.5 yrs. More than 60 % of them had abuse-related disorders: alcohol abuse in 51.9 %, alcoholism plus drug dependence in 8.6 %, and drug dependence in 3.8 %. Alcohol dependence facilitated development of TB multiple drug resistance (21 % vs 7.6 % in patients without alcohol dependence, p < 0.05), extensive (73.9 % and 40.9 %, respectively, p < 0.001) and chronic (28.6 % and 16.7 %, respectively) forms of TB. Most of TB patients with abuse-related disorders tended to have psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety). The risk of HIV-infection was significantly higher in TB patients with drug abuse (3.51 vs 0.07). Thus, it is necessary to consider co-morbidity in TB patients for more effective treatment of lung tuberculosis.

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