RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Pulmonary tuberculosis with acute respiratory failure JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP 1625 OP 1630 DO 10.1183/09031936.00070907 VO 32 IS 6 A1 Y. J. Kim A1 K. M. Pack A1 E. Jeong A1 J. O. Na A1 Y-M. Oh A1 S. D. Lee A1 W. S. Kim A1 D. S. Kim A1 W. D. Kim A1 T. S. Shim YR 2008 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/32/6/1625.abstract AB The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics, prognoses and predictors of mortality of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) with acute respiratory failure (ARF), and to investigate the adjunctive use of corticosteroids in such cases. TB patients with ARF requiring mechanical ventilation (n = 90) were enrolled retrospectively during 1989–2006. The patients were divided into two groups: tuberculous pneumonia (TBP; n = 66), and miliary TB (MTB; n = 24). The TBP patients were older than the MTB patients (mean age 68.0 versus 54.5 yrs), and the mean±sd interval from hospital admission to start of anti-TB treatment was longer for the TBP than for the MTB group (5.0±7.0 versus 2.8±2.5 days). However, there was no difference in in-hospital mortality rate between the two groups (68.2 versus 58.3%). In the TBP patients, multivariate analysis showed that advanced age and shock unrelated to sepsis were associated with poor outcomes. Even though corticosteroid use was a predictor of survival in TBP patients, it was difficult to conclusively determine the efficacy of corticosteroids in TBP with ARF because of the retrospective study design. The present study reveals the need for randomised controlled trials to clarify the role of corticosteroids as adjunctive therapy in the management of tuberculous pneumonia with acute respiratory failure.