Clinical predictors of aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity in drug-resistant Tuberculosis patients on intensive therapy

The study objectives were to determine the incidence of aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity in institutionalized patients on intensive phase of therapy for drug-resistant Tuberculosis (DR Tb) and also to assess clinical factors which could predict the ototoxicity.

The study was a prospective analytical study among consecutive DR Tb patients who were admitted for intensive phase of therapy (of 4 months) at the DR-Tb center over a 12-month period. Patients were diagnosed as DR Tb using the Gene Xpert machine to confirm Rifampicin resistance. All eligible 70 out of 87 consenting patients were consecutively recruited into the study. Patients had baseline (admission) and serial pure tone audiometries (PTAs) performed at 4 weekly intervals until discharge after 4 months of admission. Audiometric confirmation of aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity was done by comparing serial with baseline PTA.

Among the 70 patients the male:female ratio was 1.7:1. Nine patients (12.9%) were retroviral-positive, and 16 patients (22.9%) were confirmed to have ototoxicity by audiometric criteria. The duration of treatment when ototoxicity was detected in the patients ranged 4-17 (Mean±SD; 9.4±3.4) weeks. Ototoxicity was detected in the audiometric low frequency ranges in 7 (43.8%) and at the high frequencies in 4 (25.0%) of the patients. Univariate analyses of clinical parameters found that age, underlying diabetes mellitus, deranged baseline PTAv >25dB HL, BMI on admission and retroviral status were significantly associated, while sex and previous drug regimen failure were not associated with ototoxicity. Multivariate adjusted logistic regression analyses, controlling for sex, revealed age (OR=1.068, p=0.018), BMI on admission (OR=0.673, p=0.012) and retroviral positivity (OR=8.822, p=0.014) of patients could significantly predict aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity.

Incidence of aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity in DR Tb patients was 22.9%. The clinical predictors for ototoxicity were age, BMI on admission, and co-existing retroviral infection in the patients. Clinicians should consider these factors in making choices of aminoglycosides to be used during intensive phase of treatment with second line anti-Tuberculous therapy.