RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The global risk of dying from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP 1694 VO 44 IS Suppl 58 A1 Luciana Brondi A1 Dennis Falzon A1 Charalambos Sismanidis A1 Philippe Glaziou A1 Matteo Zignol A1 Katherine Floyd A1 Harry Campbell A1 Harish Nair YR 2014 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/1694.abstract AB In 2012, 8.6 million persons developed tuberculosis (TB) and 1.3 million of them died. Some 5.7% of TB patients were infected with bacteria resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin (multidrug-resistance; MDR-TB). Among TB patients on treatment, MDR-TB is associated with increased risk of dying. We estimated the global number of deaths due to MDR-TB.Deaths attributed to MDR-TB in a given year are a product of the total TB deaths that year, the overall % MDR-TB among TB cases, and the risk ratio (RR) of dying among MDR-TB vs. non-MDR-TB patients. Data from vital statistics (sparse), mortality surveys, drug-resistance surveillance, and a meta-analysis of published estimates of RR of death in MDR-TB patients were used for the estimation.A literature review of Medline, EMBASE, Global Health, and LILACS identified 25 articles out of 6,231 from 1999 to 2013 which cited an exploitable value of the RR of mortality in MDR-TB cases.Studies had broad geographical coverage and included countries with both high and low burden of TB, MDR-TB and HIV. The meta-estimate of global RR of MDR-TB mortality was 2.36 (95% range, 1.67-3.05). Using TB data for 2012 collected by WHO it was estimated that 170,000 (95% range, 100,000-240,000) deaths from MDR-TB occurred in the world that year.MDR-TB causes a sizeable proportion of TB deaths in the world. Available data precluded the differentiation of RR by geographic region or patient subgroups (eg, children).