Development and validation of a risk score to predict mortality during TB treatment in patients with TB-diabetes comorbidity

Background Making an accurate prognosis for mortality during tuberculosis (TB) treatment in TB-diabetes (TB-DM) comorbid patients remains a challenge for health professionals, especially in low TB prevalent populations, due to the lack of a standardized prognostic model. Methods Using de-identified data from TB-DM patients from Texas, who received TB treatment had a treatment outcome of completed treatment or died before completion, reported to the National TB Surveillance System from January 2010-December 2016, we developed and internally validated a mortality scoring system, based on the regression coefficients. Results Of 1227 included TB-DM patients, 112 (9.1%) died during treatment. The score used nine characteristics routinely collected by most TB programs. Patients were divided into three groups based on their score: low-risk ( Conclusion Using demographic and clinical characteristics which are available from most TB programs at the patient's initial visits, our simple scoring system had good performance and may be a practical clinical tool for TB health professionals in identifying TB-DM comorbid patients with a high mortality risk.