Risk factors for the development of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 30;12(11):e0188716. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188716. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) is increasingly recognized as an important predisposing condition for the development of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA), but there are limited data on the risk factors for CPA development in NTM-LD patients. We reviewed the medical records of 566 patients who, at the time of diagnosis of NTM-LD, did not have CPA and who received ≥12 months of treatment for NTM-LD between January 2010 and June 2015. Of these patients, 41 (7.2%) developed CPA (NTM-CPA group), whereas the remaining 525 patients did not develop CPA (NTM group). The median time to the development of CPA was 18.0 months from treatment initiation for NTM-LD. The NTM-CPA group was older and had significantly higher proportions of males, current smokers, and patients with a low body mass index (<18.5 kg/m2), when compared to the NTM group. Moreover, the NTM-CPA group was more likely to have a history of tuberculosis and chronic obstructive lung disease and to have used inhaled or systemic steroids. In the NTM-CPA group, more than 40% of patients had Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC) as the cause of NTM-LD, and the fibrocavitary form of NTM-LD was the most common; both associations were higher than in the NTM group. Overall, 17 (3%) patients died, and the NTM-CPA group had a higher mortality rate than did the NTM group (19.5% vs. 1.7%, respectively; P<0.001). In a multivariable analysis, old age, male gender, low body mass index, chronic obstructive lung disease, systemic steroids, MABC as the etiologic organism, and the fibrocavitary form of NTM-LD remained significant predictors of development of CPA. In conclusion, CPA occurred in 7.2% of patients after initiation of treatment for NTM-LD, and some risk factors were associated with CPA development. Given the worse prognosis, early diagnosis and treatment of CPA are important in patients with NTM-LD.

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / complications*
  • Pulmonary Aspergillosis / complications*
  • Republic of Korea
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (NRF-2015R1A2A1A01003959) and by a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI15C2778). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.