Background: Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is an unusual cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Objective: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with ARDS caused by miliary TB admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Design: A total of 67 patients were enrolled during the period 1999-2008.
Results: The median age of the patients was 56 years (range 17-81), 19 (28.4%) were aged >71 years, and 38 (56.7%) were male. All-cause mortality in the ICU and hospital were respectively 58.2% and 61.2%. Of the total number of enrolled patients, 49 (73.1%) were prescribed anti-tuberculosis medication within 3 days of hospital admission. On the day of ARDS diagnosis (10.0 ± 3.7 vs. 7.4 ± 3.5, P = 0.005), non-survivors had a significantly higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score than survivors. Multivariate analysis showed that SOFA score on the day of ARDS diagnosis was a significant predictor of survival (OR 0.809, 95%CI 0.691-0.946, P = 0.008). It was difficult to determine the efficacy of systemic corticosteroids on patient survival.
Conclusion: ARDS caused by miliary TB was associated with a high in-hospital mortality rate, with SOFA score on the day of ARDS diagnosis being a valuable prognostic indicator.