Efficacy and immune-inflammatory modulation of combined glucocorticoid and anti-tuberculosis therapy in patients with bronchial asthma and pulmonary tuberculosis

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and immunomodulatory effects of glucocorticoid combination therapy with anti-tuberculosis treatment in patients with asthma complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods Clinical data of 128 patients with bronchial asthma complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis were retrospectively analyzed. According to the treatment plan, the patients were divided into a control group and an observation group. The improvements in clinical symptoms, lung function indexes, immune and inflammation markers, chest X-ray results, sputum negative conversion rate, and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results Patients in the observation group demonstrated superior improvement in clinical symptoms compared to the control group. After six months of treatment, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in pulmonary function scores relative to baseline, with the observation group showing greater improvement than the control group. Inflammatory and immune markers were significantly reduced in both groups compared to pre-treatment levels, with the reduction being greater in the observation group than in the control group. After 6 months of treatment, lesion absorption and cavitary closure were more favorable in the observation group. At the 6-month follow-up, the bacteriological recurrence rate in the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Conclusion The combined use of glucocorticoids and anti-tuberculosis drugs provides dual advantages: it effectively controls asthma while enhancing the efficacy of anti-tuberculosis treatment.