Role of C- reactive protein as an inflammatory marker in sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients

Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis is associated with local inflammation of the lung tissue andincreases the levels of the inflammatory markers. C – Reactive protein is an important inflammatory marker during pulmonarytuberculosis. The aims of our study were measuringserum CRP level in sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients at the start and end of the intensive phase of anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) along with correlation between sputum smear grading and serumCRP level at the start and end of intensive phase of ATT. Methods: This was aprospective cohort study and60 patientswithsputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosiswere taken. Serum CRP level and sputum smear grading wasdone at the start and end of the intensive phase of ATT. Results: SerumCRP level before the start and at end of intensive phase of ATT showed mean of 11.72 ± 5.53 mg/dl (males - 11.01 ± 5.25, females - 12.77 ± 5.89) and 2.69 ± 1.81mg/dl(males -2.66 ± 1.87, females - 2.72 ± 1.75), respectively. On statistical analysis, the p-value was