Purpose: Pyrazinamide is an antituberculous drug that is administered as a two-month course during treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Adverse reactions to pyrazinamide have been reported to include hyperuricemia. We performed a retrospective multicenter epidemiological survey to assess the relationship between various patient characteristics and the uric acid level, the changes of uric acid during pyrazinamide administration, and the use of medications for uric acid control as well as attacks of gout or arthralgia at the onset of hyperuricemia. A total of 226 patients who were admitted to four hospitals with pulmonary tuberculosis between January and December 2006 and received short-term intensive pyrazinamide therapy were studied.
Results: There were 172 men and 54 women with an average age of 59.5 years and an average body mass index of 19.8 kg/m2. The average serum uric acid concentration before pyrazinamide treatment was 4.73 +/- 1.78 mg/dl, while the average uric acid level after pyrazinamide treatment was 10.63 +/- 2.67 mg/dl, which was significantly higher than the pretreatment level (p<0.0001). During treatment, hyperuricemia (Serum uric acid > or = 8 mg/dl) was reported in 84.5% of patients and arthralgia developed in 4.42%. Although the therapy instituted in 51 patients (22.57%) had to be interrupted or discontinued due to liver dysfunction and skin rashes, which were probably caused by isoniazid and rifampicin, no patient ceased taking pyrazinamide due to an increase of uric acid. Drugs for uric acid control were administered to 21 patients (9.29%). Pyrazinamide is an important agent for intensive short-term antituberculous therapy. Hyperuricemia due to this drug can be managed by observation and does not require interruption of administration.