Nutritional Adequacy and Latent Tuberculosis Infection in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients

Risk factors and prognosis for latent tuberculosis infection in dialysis patients: A retrospective cohort study at a single tertiary care center

INTRODUCTION

Recent studies report that latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) may lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) that led us to hypothesize that LTBI may play an important role in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in dialysis patients.

METHODS

A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted. A total of 270 patients undergoing hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis more than 3 months were included. The interferon enzyme-linked immunospot (IFN-γ ELISPOT) assay was used for the diagnosis of LTBI. Primary endpoints were MACE, including all-cause death and acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The association between LTBI and MACE was examined using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression after adjusting for covariates and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

RESULTS

In our study, the patients were classified into LTBI (n = 47) or non-LTBI (n = 223) groups. Independent risk factors for LTBI in dialysis population were prior tuberculosis (TB) history (odds ratio [OR] 4.817 [1.064-22.306]), tobacco use (OR 2.903 [1.155-7.299]), and older age (OR 1.027 [1.002-1.053]). After a median follow-up of 39 months, the incidence of active TB was 6.4% versus 0% in dialysis patients with and without LTBI, respectively (p = 0.005). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that LTBI was significantly associated with MACE (hazard ratio [HR] 2.540 [1.490-4.350]) after adjustment for potential confounders.

CONCLUSIONS

Prior TB history, tobacco use, and the elderly can be used to select cost-effective LTBI screening target groups in dialysis patients. LTBI is not only closely related to active TB but also an independent risk factor for higher incidence of MACE in dialysis population.

The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in patients with chronic kidney disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

Methods

This study was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. We identified, 3694 studies from the whole search, and 59 studies were included. Each study's quality was assessed using JBI checklist. We employed STATA version 17 for statistical analysis. We assessed heterogeneity using I2 heterogeneity test. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plot and Egger's test. We estimated the pooled LTBI prevalence in CKD patients along with 95%CI.

Results

The pooled prevalence of LTBI among CKD patients using data collected from 53 studies having 12,772 patients was 30.2% (95%CI; 25.5, 34.8). The pooled prevalence among pre-dialysis, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplanted patients was 17.8% (95%CI; 3.3, 32.4), 34.8% (95%CI; 29.1, 40.5), 25% (95%CI; 11, 38), and 16% (95%CI; 7, 25), respectively. The pooled prevalence of LTBI stratified by the laboratory screening methods was 25.3% (95%CI: 20.3-30.3) using TST, 28.0% (95%CI; 23.9-32.0) using QFT, and 32.6%, (95%CI: 23.7-41.5) using T-SPOT.

Conclusion

There is high prevalence of LTBI among CKD patients mainly in patients on dialysis. Thus, early diagnosis and treatment of LTBI in CKD patients should be performed to prevent active TB in CKD patients.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022372441.

Development and validation of a novel predictive model and web calculator for evaluating transfusion risk after spinal fusion for spinal tuberculosis: a retrospective cohort study

Objectives

The incidence and adverse events of postoperative blood transfusion in spinal tuberculosis (TB) have attracted increasing attention. Our purpose was to develop a prediction model to evaluate blood transfusion risk after spinal fusion (SF) for spinal TB.

Methods

Nomogram and machine learning algorithms, support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP), Naive Bayesian (NB), k-nearest neighbors (K-NN) and random forest (RF), were constructed to identified predictors of blood transfusion from all spinal TB cases treated by SF in our department between May 2010 and April 2020. The prediction performance of the models was evaluated by 10-fold cross-validation. We calculated the average AUC and the maximum AUC, then demonstrated the ROC curve with maximum AUC.

Results

The collected cohort ultimately was consisted of 152 patients, where 56 required allogeneic blood transfusions. The predictors were surgical duration, preoperative Hb, preoperative ABL, preoperative MCHC, number of fused vertebrae, IBL, and anticoagulant history. We obtained the average AUC of nomogram (0.75), SVM (0.62), k-NM (0.65), DT (0.56), NB (0.74), MLP (0.56) and RF (0.72). An interactive web calculator based on this model has been provided (https://drwenleli.shinyapps.io/STTapp/).

Conclusions

We confirmed seven independent risk factors affecting blood transfusion and diagramed them with the nomogram and web calculator.

The Relationship between Nutritional Status and Latent Tuberculosis in Routine Hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) interferes with the natural and adaptive immune response, consequently, increasing the latent tuberculosis (TB) reactivation. AIM: This study therefore aims to determine the relationship between nutritional status and latent TB in routine HD, using interferon gamma release assays (IGRA), to screen for latent TB. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: This study has an analytical observation cross-sectional design, and was conducted on 120 CKD-HD patients aged 18 years and above, and has been undergoing HD twice weekly for over 3 months, without malignancy, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, history of TB, or radiological evidence at the HD Unit of the Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia, between March and May 2020, and not currently receiving immunosuppressant or TB therapy. In addition, the age, gender, history of Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine, CKD etiology, length of HD, HD adequacy, TB contact history, number of family members, smoking status, body mass index, albumin, malnutrition inflammation score, triceps skinfold thickness (TST), biceps skinfold thickness, suprailiac skinfold thickness (SIST), mid-upper arm circumference (MAC), and normalized protein catabolic rate between positive and negative IGRA groups, of each patient, were determined. RESULTS: In this study, all the patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Based on the IGRA test, 47 patients (39.17%) tested positive, and 68 (56.67%) tested negative, while the results for the remaining 5 (4.16%) were indeterminate. The malnutrition inflammation score (MIS) score with positive IGRA 23.3 (20.0–26.7) was discovered to differ insignificantly (p value of 0.252) from the negative counterpart 20.0 (16.7–28.4). Meanwhile, in the HD adequacy assessment based on urea reduction rate, a statistically significant difference (p = 0.042) occurred between the positive 70.45 (65.70–76.61) and negative 74.15 (70.71–77.33) IGRA groups. In the smoking status, the positive and negative IGRA were discovered to differ significantly (30 (63.8% vs. 28 (41.2% p = 0.017) OR 2.521 (1.172–5.425). However, in the history of contact with TB patients, the positive and negative IGRA did not differ significantly (4.3% vs. 11.8% p = 0.160). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in TST and MAC, between MIS >5 and MIS ≤5 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The assessment of nutritional status level, TST, MAC, smoking status, and adequate HD is crucial for CKD patients with routine HD, as these factors present risks of latent TB.

Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection and its risk factors in Japanese hemodialysis patients

BACKGROUND

The majority of active tuberculosis (TB) cases develop from latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Since the risk of TB in hemodialysis (HD) patients is particularly high, interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) for LTBI screening in HD patients is considered important. However, the prevalence and characteristics of LTBI in Japanese HD patients remain obscure.

METHODS

We performed an observational cross-sectional study of LTBI using IGRA QFT-3G tests in 118 HD outpatients enrolled at 3 hospitals of varying location and function.

RESULTS

Of the 118 patients, 96 were QFT negative, 7 were QFT indeterminate, 14 were QFT positive, and 1 was QFT judgment impossible. No patient had active TB. Confirmed (QFT positive) and possible (QFT positive + indeterminate) LTBI patients totaled 14 (11.9%) and 21 (17.8%), respectively. The LTBI possible group was significantly older and had a significantly higher rate of nephrosclerosis versus the QFT-negative group. The indeterminate group had a significantly longer HD period. The QFT results were not remarkably affected by other clinical data, including hospital characteristics. The possible LTBI rate increased age-dependently, with higher values from 60 years of age.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of LTBI is high in Japanese HD patients, especially from the age of 60 years. Older age was a significant risk factor for LTBI, with prediction difficult using other clinical data. Extended HD may mask IGRA results. Therefore, aggressive screening for LTBI is advised in all HD patients regardless of hospital region or type, especially in patients over 60 years of age or newly commencing HD.