Looking into real world practice of elder pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection

<b>Background:</b> Elder population are susceptible to pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacterial (PNTM) infection. Also, high age is a risk factor for progression and mortality of PNT, but the evidence related to PNTM treatment are still limited. <b>Aims:</b> The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PNTM infection treatment among elder patients. <b>Methods:</b> We enrolled patients diagnosed with PNTM infection in a tertial hospital in Chiba, Japan, from January 2007 to December 2017. We retrospectively collected patient characteristics, administered treatments, symptoms, and radiographic findings from the medical records. <b>Results:</b> Hundred and sixty-one patients met the diagnostic criteria for PNTM infection, 75 patients were defined as elder group (age above 75) and 86 patients were in the younger group (age less than 75) In the elder group, 33 patients were treated for PNTM infection. On the other hand, 39 patients were treated in the younger group. Elder group tended to receive less medication for PNTM infection treatment. When comparing NTM treatment-related adverse events between elder and younger groups, no significant difference was observed (39.39% vs 23.08%, respectively). Also, the improvements of both radiological findings (elderly group 54.55% vs younger group 33.33%) and respiratory symptoms (elderly group 54.55% vs younger group 46.15 %) due to NTM treatment showed no significant differences between the two groups. <b>Conclusions:</b> The results of our study suggested that antibiotics therapy with less medication was tolerable and could be a reasonable option for elder patients with PNTM infection to control their symptoms.