AUTHOR=Liao Kuang-Ming , Lee Chung-Shu , Wu Yu-Cih , Shu Chin-Chung , Ho Chung-Han 

TITLE=Prior treated tuberculosis and mortality risk in lung cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1121257

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1121257

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Objectives
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death and tuberculosis (TB) is a common pre-existing disease. However, there is scarce literature studying the mortality risk in patients with prior TB and subsequent lung cancer.
Methods
We recruited lung cancer patients from the Taiwan Cancer Registry from 2011 to 2015 and classified them into two groups according to presence or absence of prior TB. We then matched them in a ratio of 1:4 using the exact matching approach. The mortality risk within 3 years after diagnosis of lung cancer was analyzed.
Results 
During the study period, 43,472 patients with lung cancer were recruited and of these, 1211 (2.79%) patients had prior TB. After matching, this cohort included 5,935 patients with lung cancer in two groups: patients with prior TB before lung cancer (n=1,187) and those without (n=4,748). After controlling for demographic factors and comorbidities, patients with prior TB had increased adjusted hazard ratios of 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04–1.23) and 1.11 (1,02–1.21) for all-cause and cancer-specific three-year mortality, respectively, compared to the lung cancer patients without prior TB. 
Conclusions
Patients with lung cancer had prior TB was associated with higher three-year mortality after they developed lung cancer.