Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep;37(9):973-8.
doi: 10.15537/smj.2016.9.15183.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome complicating community-acquired pneumonia secondary to mycobacterium tuberculosis in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia

Ebrahim S Mahmoud  1 , Salim A Baharoon, Eiman Alsafi, Hamdan Al-Jahdaly
Affiliations

Acute respiratory distress syndrome complicating community-acquired pneumonia secondary to mycobacterium tuberculosis in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia

Ebrahim S Mahmoud et al. Saudi Med J. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To discuss our center's experience with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in a major tertiary referral hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of all patients with community-acquired pneumonia secondary to mycobacterium TB infection who were admitted for critical care in a single center of King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2004 to 2013.

Results: In our review of 350 patients with community-acquired pneumonia admitted to Intensive Care Unit, 11 cases of TB complicated with ARDS were identified. The mean age of patients was 51.9 years. The median time from hospital admission to pulmonary TB diagnosis and start of therapy was 5 days, while the median time from onset of symptoms to initiation of treatment was 18 days. The mortality rate was 64%, and the median length of hospital stay before death was 21.4 days. Delayed treatment, as well as high acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II and CURB-65 scores at presentation, were independent risk factors for death.

Conclusion: Patients with pulmonary TB infrequently present to intensive care with acute symptoms that meet all criteria for ARDS. Such a presentation of TB carries a high mortality risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest x-ray of a 46-year-old male with end stage renal disease who died at initial presentation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis control: WHO report 2012. Geneva (CH): World Health Organization; 2012.
    1. Mandell LA, Bartlett JG, Dowell SF, File TM, Jr, Musher DM, Whitney C, et al. Update of practice guidelines for the management of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2003;37:1405–1433. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Raina AH, Bhat A, Bhat FA, Changal KH, Dhobi GN, Koul PA, et al. Pulmonary tuberculosis presenting with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): A case report and review of literature. Egyptian Journal of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis. 2013;62:655–659.
    1. Agarwal R, Gupta D, Aggarwal AN, Behera D, Jindal SK. Experience with ARDS caused by tuberculosis in a respiratory intensive care unit. Intensive Care Med. 2005;31:1284–1287. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agarwal MK, Muthuswamy PP, Banner AS, Shah RS, Addington WW. Respiratory failure in pulmonary tuberculosis. Chest. 1977;72:605–609. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources