Table 1.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of TB patients who responded early (sputum culture negative at 8 weeks of treatment) and late (sputum culture positive at 8 weeks).

	Culture negative at 8 weeks (n = 21)	Culture positive at 8 weeks (n = 19)	p value
Demographic characteristics
Age; median (IQR)	26.0 (6.5)	30.0 (4.0)	0.007
Male gender	13 (62%)	16 (84%)	0.085
Social characteristics
Smoking history	4 (19%)	5 (25%)	0.255
Past alcohol use	0 (0%)	1 (5%)	0.475
Past drug use (injection)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1
Past drug use (non-injection)	0 (0%)	1 (5%)	0.475
Clinical characteristics
BMI; median (IQR)	19.8 (2.7)	18.2 (2.8)	0.192
HIV infected	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1
Any co-morbid condition	1 (5%)	0 (0%)	0.525
Presence of cavity on chest x-ray
Any cavity	12 (57%)	11 (58%)	0.250
Bilateral cavitation	1 (5%)	2 (11%)	0.364
Cavity classification on chest x-ray
Absent	9 (43%)	8 (42%)	0.250
Present < 4cm	5 (24%)	4 (21%)	0.289
Present ≥ 4cm	7 (33%)	7 (37%)	0.253
Extent of Chest x-ray involvement
Limited	0 (0%)	2 (11%)	0.219
Moderate	15 (71%)	7 (37%)	0.024
Extensive	6 (29%)	10 (52%)	0.080
Any bilateral abnormalities	9 (43%)	12 (63%)	0.113
AFB smear
2+	5 (24%)	0 (0%)	0.031
3+	6 (29%)	6 (32%)	0.264
4+	10 (47%)	13 (68%)	0.108
Days to detection; median (IQR)	5.84 (2.54)	5.98 (2.60)	0.538
End of treatment (EOT) assessment at 6 months
Cured	21 (100%)	17 (90%)a	0.219
Decrease in IgM response tob
CL	−16.5%	8.2%	0.123
PE	2.5%	9.7%	0.419
PI	−2.5%	3.9%	0.782
PTC	−11.3%	−3.6%	0.860
SL	−10.1%	1.4%	0.557

^aTwo patients who had multidrug-resistant TB were placed on a 2-year treatment course. The sputum of one became culture-negative after 6 months of retreatment, while that of the other was negative throughout the entire retreatment. Both had non-cavitary disease.

^bDecrease in IgM antibody levels are expressed as percent change. Negative values indicate decrease.