Specific Management of the Patients with Rheumatological Diseases and Limited Respiratory Tuberculosis

The objective: to analyze specific management of the patients with rheumatological diseases and limited respiratory tuberculosis. Subjects and Methods. Management and treatment of 46 patients with limited respiratory tuberculosis was compared and analyzed. Of those, 22 patients (Case Group) had rheumatological diseases and 24 patients (Control Group) had no such disorders. There were no significant differences in age, gender, and dissemination of tuberculosis between the groups. Results. Other diseases were found to be more common in Case Group – 81.8% versus 37.5% in Control Group ( p <0.05). In the same group, persons with three or more concomitant diseases predominated – 36.4% versus 4.2% in Control Group ( p <0.05). In Case Group, the majority of patients were managed by a rheumatologist due to rheumatoid arthritis – 14/22 people (63.6%). At the time of tuberculosis detection, all patients with rheumatological pathology were receiving immunosuppressive therapy; they continued taking it while tuberculosis was diagnosed and treated. In both observation groups, a high proportion of invasive techniques used to verify respiratory tuberculosis was noted: 45.4% and 62.5%, respectively ( p >0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in incidence of drug-resistant tuberculosis between the groups ( p >0.05). It was established that successful anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy was possible during treatment of rheumatoid diseases (Case Group); there were no statistically significant differences in effectiveness versus Control Group ( p >0.05).