A Study of COVID-19 Infected Patients with Tuberculosis as Comorbidity and on Antitubercular Drug Therapy

Background:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is considered the most detrimental among patients with comorbid conditions during the prevaccination era.Drugs have been repurposed for the management of COVID-19 infection.An attempt was made to study the morbidity and mortality outcome and the role of anti-TB drug therapy in COVID-19 disease prognosis, in patients of tuberculosis (TB) on anti-TB drug therapy acquiring COVID-19 infection.Materials and methods: For this study patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection with TB were divided into three groups.Group I-patients with TB and COVID-19 infection, Group II-patients on anti-TB therapy who acquired COVID-19 infection and Group III-patients suspected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, found to be COVID-19 negative and diagnosed with TB from March 2019 to June 2021.All were studied for the duration of hospital stay, clinical symptoms, and associated comorbidity.Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-squared tests were applied.Result: From records of the designated microscopic center (DMC) of Government Medical College, Surat, a total of 888 patients were diagnosed with TB during the study period, 46 of whom reported to the COVID-19 care center with clinical suspicion.Out of 46 patients, 52.2% had TB, 23.9% had diabetes, 15.2% had hypertension, 4.3% had chronic kidney disease (CKD) with DM & HT, 2.1% had rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Out of a total of 46 patients, 41 recovered, while five died.The median duration of disease among patients from all groups was 15 days.There was a significant association between TB patients on AKT with COVID-19 test results.Those patients who were on AKT had lesser chances of getting an infection with COVID-19 (χ 2 = 272.41,p < 0.00001). Conclusion:The study observation leads toward anti-TB drugs having a protective role against COVID-19 infection.