Baseline characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) patients treated with supplementary arginine or placebo
| Characteristic | HIV−/TB+ | HIV+/TB+ | ||
| Arginine | Placebo | Arginine | Placebo | |
| Patients n | 24 | 32 | 33 | 26 |
| Age yrs | 28.8 (24.4–33.2) | 29.9 (26.3–33.6) | 29.1 (26.5–31.7) | 30.8 (26.7–34.8) |
| Sex M/F | 13/11 | 16/16 | 13/20 | 19/7 |
| Sputum status % | ||||
| Three positive | 62.5 | 62.5 | 48.5 | 53.9 |
| Two positive | 25 | 25 | 33.3 | 34.6 |
| One positive | 12.5 | 12.5 | 18.2 | 11.5 |
| Weight kg | 47.8 (43.9–51.7) | 45.3 (42.3–47.2) | 45.0 (42.5–47.5) | 45.3 (42.8–48.3) |
| SR mm·h−1 | 60.4 (50.2–70.6) | 59.6 (51.3–67.9) | 89.0 (82.0–96.0)* | 79.4 (67.5–91.3)* |
| Haemoptysis weeks | 0.5 (0–1.2) | 0.5 (0.1–0.9) | 0.4 (0.1–0.7) | 0.2 (0–0.4) |
| Cough weeks | 9.5 (7.5–11.4) | 9.3 (7.6–11.1) | 7.6 (5.6–9.7) | 9.1 (6.9–11.4) |
| Chest pain weeks | 5.3 (2.9–7.7) | 5.7 (3.8–7.7) | 4.5 (2.8–6.1) | 5.6 (3.4–7.8) |
| Fever weeks | 4.4 (2.7–6.1) | 6.7 (4.8–8.6) | 6.1 (4.4–7.8) | 5.0 (3.6–6.5) |
| Night sweating weeks | 5.1 (3.2–7.0) | 6.3 (4.4–8.2) | 5.9 (4.1–7.8) | 4.7 (3.1–6.2) |
| Arginine µM | 100.2 (90.5–109.9) | 105.5 (93.7–117.3) | 112.5 (97.4–127.6) | 109.0 (95.5–123.1) |
| Citrulline µM | 27.3 (23.2–31.5) | 28.2 (24.4–31.9) | 27.0 (23.1–30.9) | 24.5 (21.4–27.6) |
| NOx µM | 1866 (1221–2512) | 1679 (1295–2062) | 2172 (1557–2787) | 2314 (1491–3139) |
| TNF‐α pg·mL−1 | 5.3 (3.5–7.1) | 6.8 (4.7–9.0) | 14.2 (9.4–19.1)* | 13.5 (10.3–16.6)* |
Data are presented as mean (95% confidence interval)
HIV: human immunodeficiency virus
M: male
F: female
SR: sedimentation rate
NOx: nitric oxide metabolites (nitrate and nitrite)
TNF: tumour necrosis factor
There were no significant differences in baseline data between the arginine- and placebo-supplemented groups in HIV−/TB+ or HIV+/TB+ patients, respectively
*: p<0.05 between HIV− and HIV+ patients