Background: Incidence, characteristics, and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB)-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRS) in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients are not known.
Methods: Patients are composed of 64 consecutive SOT recipients with TB followed for 12 months. IRS was defined based on previously proposed criteria.
Results: IRS developed in 14% (9/64) of the patients, a median of 47 days after the use of anti-TB therapy. Liver versus other types of organ transplant recipients (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 6.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-34.86), prior cytomegalovirus infection (adjusted OR, 5.65; 95% CI, 0.93-34.47), and rifampin use (adjusted OR, 4.56; 95% CI, 0.74-27) were associated with a higher risk of IRS. The presence of more than one factor (liver transplantation, cytomegalovirus infection, and rifampin use) when compared with none of these factors conferred a 19-fold increase in the risk of IRS (P=0.01). Mortality at 1 year after diagnosis was 33.3% in patients with IRS and 17.2% in those without IRS (P=0.31).
Conclusions: IRS was documented in 14% of the SOT recipients with TB. We determined clinically identifiable factors that may be useful in assessing the risk of tuberculosis-associated posttransplantation IRS.