J Korean Med Sci.  2022 Aug;37(32):e250. 10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e250.

The Higher Incidence of COVID-19 in Patients With Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease: A Single Center Experience in Korea

• Kim SH
• Jhun BW
• Jeong BH
• Park HY
• Kim H
• Kwon OJ
• Shin SH

• KMID: 2532324
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e250

Abstract

The aim of our study was to investigate the incidence of and risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial-pulmonary disease (NTM-PD). A total of 3,866 patients with NTM-PD were retrospectively identified from a single center. Compared to the general population of Korea, patients with NTM-PD had a substantially increased age-standardized incidence of COVID-19 from January 2020 to February 2021 (2.1% vs. 0.2%). The odds of being infected with COVID-19 was particularly higher in patients who received treatment for NTM-PD than in those who did not receive treatment for NTM-PD (adjusted odd ratio = 1.99, 95% confidence interval = 1.09–3.64, P = 0.026). Patients with NTM-PD might be regarded as a high-risk group for COVID-19 and may need a more proactive preventive strategy for COVID-19 and other pandemics in the future.

Keyword

Viruses; Coronavirus; Mycobacterium; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Public Health; Epidemiology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The incidence of coronavirus-2019 disease in the general population and in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease. (A) age-standardized incidence of COVID-19. (B) incidence of COVID-19 stratified by age.NTM-PD = non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease, COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019.

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  Fig. 2 The odds for coronavirus-2019 disease in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease according to treatment initiation for non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease.OR = odds ratio, CI = confidence interval, COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019, NTM = non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

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