Acute Biliary Events During Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment
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Chang et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2018) 18:64 DOI 10.1186/s12879-018-2966-3 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Acute biliary events during anti- tuberculosis treatment: hospital case series and a nationwide cohort study Lih-Yu Chang1, Chih-Hsin Lee2,3, Chia-Hao Chang1, Ming-Chia Lee4,5, Meng-Rui Lee1, Jann-Yuan Wang6* and Li-Na Lee7 Abstract Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major infectious diseases worldwide. Adverse reactions are common during TB treatment. Few reports, however, are available on treatment-related acute biliary events (ABEs), such as cholelithiasis, biliary obstruction, acute cholecystitis, and cholangitis. Methods: We first report four pulmonary TB patients who developed ABEs during anti-TB treatment. Abdominal sonography revealed multiple gall stones with dilated intrahepatic ducts in three patients and cholecystitis in one patient. To investigate the incidence of and risk factors for ABEs during anti-TB treatment, we subsequently conducted a nationwide cohort study using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Results: A total of 159,566 pulmonary TB patients were identified from the database between 1996 and 2010, and among them, 195 (0.12%) developed ABEs within 180 days after beginning anti-TB treatment. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors associated with ABEs are older age (relative risk [RR]: 1.32 [1.21–1.44] per 10- year increment) and diabetes mellitus (RR: 1.59 [1.19–2.13]). Conclusions: Although infrequently encountered, ABEs should be considered among patients with TB who experience abdominal discomfort with hyperbilirubinemia, especially patients who have older age or diabetes. Keywords: Tuberculosis, Biliary event, Cholelithiasis, Cholecystitis, Cholangitis, National Health Insurance Research Database Background Hepatotoxicity is the most common adverse event as- Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the most deadly infec- sociated with TB treatment, with an incidence rate be- tious diseases worldwide [1]. In 2015, approximately tween 10.2% and 18.9% in Taiwan, and it is potentially 10.4 million new cases of TB were diagnosed globally. life-threatening [3–6]. The risk of drug-induced liver in- Despite a decrease in the mortality rate in 2015 from jury during anti-TB treatment ranges from 5% to 33% 2000, TB caused approximately 1.8 million deaths in according to the American Thoracic Society [7]. Clinical 2015 [1]. Although effective anti-TB drugs are readily presentations may include low-grade fever, general mal- available, the treatment of TB is not always successful aise, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal disten- because treatment-emergent adverse events—such as sion, icteric conjunctiva, and elevated serum hepatotoxicity, peripheral neuropathy, gastrointestinal aminotransferases and bilirubin levels. These symptoms upset, hyperuricemia, optic neuritis, and cutaneous reac- and signs are typically indistinguishable from those of tions [2]—often lead to treatment interruption and fur- acute biliary events (ABEs) such as cholelithiasis, biliary ther dissemination of the TB bacilli. obstruction, acute cholecystitis, and cholangitis. Delayed or incorrect diagnosis of ABEs may cause unnecessary anti-TB treatment interruption, or if left untreated, may * Correspondence: [email protected] 6Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, #7, lead to intra-abdominal complications, such as acute Chung-Shan South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei 10002, Taiwan pancreatitis, sepsis, or perforation [8]. However, the Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Chang et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2018) 18:64 Page 2 of 8 association between ABEs and anti-TB treatment has Analysis of nationwide cohort not been elucidated thus far. Therefore, in this paper, we Definition of ABEs first report four cases of ABEs during anti-TB treatment, An adverse event was considered an ABE if it met both and subsequently, we investigate the incidence rate and of the following criteria: (1) diagnosis of cholelithiasis risk factors of ABEs during anti-TB treatment in a na- (ICD-9-CM code 574), acute cholecystitis (ICD-9-CM tionwide TB cohort. code 575.0–575.2), cholangitis (ICD-9-CM code 576.1), or obstruction of biliary tract (ICD-9-CM code 576.2); and (2) the patient had received at least one of the ex- Methods aminations and management therapies listed in Table 1. This study consisted of two parts. In the first part (case The primary outcome was ABEs that occurred within series), we obtained the clinical presentations and treat- 180 days after commencement of anti-TB treatment. ment histories of patients with pulmonary TB who de- veloped ABEs during anti-TB treatment at the National Case selection Taiwan University Hospital and its Hsinchu Branch be- We identified patients in the NHIRD who had been di- tween 2010 and 2015. In the second part (nationwide agnosed with pulmonary TB from 1996 to 2010 (Fig. 1). cohort), we conducted a nationwide cohort study using Active TB was defined by the following criteria: (1) at claims data from the National Health Insurance Re- least two outpatient records or one inpatient record with search Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan to evaluate the inci- a compatible diagnosis; (2) one prescription of at least dence rate of ABEs during anti-TB treatment and three anti-TB medications; and (3) receiving two or identify risk factors for ABEs. more anti-TB medications simultaneously over a period of 120 days within a 180-day period [9]. Patients who were diagnosed with nontuberculous mycobacterial in- Ethics statement fection (ICD-9-CM code 031) during the last 60 days of The Institutional Review Board of the National Taiwan anti-TB treatment were excluded. Patients who met any University Hospital and its Hsinchu Branch approved of the ABE diagnostic criteria before anti-TB treatment the study (NTUH REC: 201,309,064 W; NTUH-HC were also excluded. Date of treatment completion was REC: 105–023-E). Due to the study’s retrospective de- defined as the last date on which two or more anti-TB sign, inform consent was deemed unnecessary. drugs were taken simultaneously without receiving any anti-TB medication in the subsequent 60 days. Identification of ABE cases in the hospital-based cohort Comorbidity and income status (case series) Definition of ABEs Comorbid conditions—comprising diabetes mellitus An adverse event was considered an ABE if it met both (DM), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), of the following criteria: (1) abnormal liver function dur- malignancy, end-stage renal disease, connective tissue ing anti-TB treatment; and (2) diagnosis with image con- disease, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, liver cir- firmation, such as abdominal computed tomography or rhosis, transplantation, pneumoconiosis, and low- — sonography. income status at the time TB diagnosis were identified by using previously published definitions [9, 10]. Case selection Statistical analyses Between 2010 and 2015, a total of 3686 patients with Intergroup differences were assessed by using pulmonary TB were treated at the National Taiwan independent-sample t tests for continuous variables and University Hospital (n = 2704) and its Hsinchu Branch chi-square or Fisher exact tests for categorical variables. (n = 982). Among them, 2879 (78.1%) had culture- The risk factors for ABEs in patients with pulmonary TB confirmed pulmonary TB. Liver function (aspartate ami- were evaluated using logistic regression analyses. Only notransferase [AST], alanine aminotransferase [ALT], variables with a two-sided p < 0.05 were included in the and total bilirubin) was evaluated at baseline and at least final model. All analyses were performed using IBM SPSS once during anti-TB treatment in 3675 (99.7%) patients, Statistics Version 22 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). and significant elevation in AST and ALT levels was noted in 416 (11.3% of 3675) patients. The medical re- Results cords of these 416 patients were reviewed to determine Case series in the hospital cohort whether ABE was responsible for abnormal liver func- Case 1 tion in these patients. The diagnosis of ABE was also A male patient in his 80s with comorbid, medically con- confirmed using imaging modalities. trolled hypertension and DM received standard four- Chang et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2018) 18:64 Page 3 of 8 Table 1 Examinations and management of acute biliary events Examination or Management NHIRD code Non-invasive Study Cholescintigraphy 26040B Oral cholecystography 33020B Intravenous choledochocystography 33021B Invasive Study Transduodenal choledochoscopy 28032B Percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopy 28036B Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography 33024B Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography 33025B Drainage Fiber choledochoscopy, percutaneous via T-tube or other tract 28034B T-tube cholecystography 33022B Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography-drainage