PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Satoshi Watanabe AU - Yuichi Tambo AU - Yuko Waseda AU - Ryo Matsunuma AU - Hazuki Takato AU - Kanako Inuzuka AU - Akihito Okazaki AU - Nobuyuki Katayama AU - Masahide Yasui AU - Kazuo Kasahara AU - Masaki Fujimura TI - Risk factors for pulmonary <em>Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare</em> complex disease deterioration in immunocompetent patients DP - 2012 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P2712 VI - 40 IP - Suppl 56 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P2712.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P2712.full SO - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40 AB - Backgrounds and objectives: Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (MAC) disease has become increasingly observed in immunocompetent patients without any underlying lung diseases. Disease progression is variable and its natural history is not well understood. We investigated possible risk factors for deterioration of pulmonary MAC disease.Methods: A case-control study was done for 61 patients with pulmonary MAC disease who had no underlying lung diseases and were not immunosuppressed. Patients were divided into two groups: disease deterioration (Cases; N=32) and no disease deterioration (Controls; N=29). At their first visit, we examined patient characteristics, symptoms, chest CT findings, bacteriological and hematological test results, and respiratory function test results.Results: At their first visit, Cases were more often symptomatic than Controls (90.6% vs. 37.9%; p&lt;0.001). Cases had advanced radiological changes (CT scores 8.2 vs. 4.3; p&lt;0.001), and more Cases than Controls had cavitation (28.1% vs. 3.4%; p=0.009), and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes (71.9% vs. 24.1%, p&lt;0.001). Erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) and fibrinogen levels were significantly increased in Cases. No significant differences were found between these groups for age, BMI, environmental exposure, nutritional status, immune status, or respiratory function.Conclusions: Increased symptoms incidence, advanced radiological changes, increased ESR and high fibrinogen levels are risk factors for pulmonary MAC disease deterioration. These factors might be useful not only to predict disease deterioration but for decisions regarding the timing of introducing treatment.