TABLE 2.

Predictors of sputum culture conversion to negative^a

Characteristic	Sputum culture conversion		P
	≤2 mos (n = 14)	>2 mos (n = 5)
Mean age (yrs) ± SD	29.5 ± 13.3	46.6 ± 16.3	0.08
No. of subjects (%)
Male	8 (57)	5 (100)	0.13
HIV infected	2 (14)	2 (40)	0.27
Chest X-ray showing cavitation	6 (43)	4 (80)	0.30
Mean TDA ratio ± SD	2.52 ± 0.76	1.88 ± 0.57	0.08
Proportion with TDA > −2-log killing (%)	13 (93)	1 (20)	0.02

^a“Conversion” refers to sputum culture conversion to negative for two consecutive months. Sputum cultures were performed monthly. TDA, TB drug activity. Subjects with culture conversion prior to initiation of MDR-TB regimen (n = 2) and subjects for whom a pretreatment M. tuberculosis isolate was not available (n = 4) were excluded. Only 13 subjects had pretreatment body mass index and culture conversion data available and thus were thus excluded from the comparison.