Use of Serum Albumin Level as a Predictive Marker of Clinical Outcomes for Active Tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE The study objective was to determine whether there is an association between changes in tuberculosis (TB) patient serum albumin levels during anti-TB treatment and subsequent treatment outcomes. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study to reveal associations between dynamic changes in TB patient serum albumin levels and stratified clinical outcomes. RESULTS For TB patients with good treatment outcomes, serum albumin concentrations at treatment initiation and during treatment at 1 month (35.7±5.0 g/L), at 2 months (38.1±4.4 g/L) and at treatment completion (43.2±4.9 g/L) were significantly greater than baseline level (30.9±3.7 g/L, P 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrates that serum albumin level changes during early anti-TB treatment are useful indicators for identifying TB patients at high-risk for treatment failure.