All potential predictors with a P value of <0.1 in the univariate analysis were entered into the multivariate model. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Statistical

significance was defined at a two-tailed P value of <0.05. The statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS Version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and Stata Version 10.0 software packages. A total of 243 patients (164 males, 62.1 ± 17.9 years) were prospectively enrolled in this study. The baseline characteristics, comorbidities, laboratory data, and microbiologic and radiographic features are outlined in Table 1. Among them, 132 (54%) patients were sputum acid-fast smear-positive and 35 (14%) had mono-drug resistant tuberculosis. Chest radiographs showed the presence

of selleck chemicals llc cavity and pleural effusion in 36 (15%) and 70 (29%) patients, respectively. selleck compound More than half (55%) of the patients had radiographic findings of moderately advanced disease, and far advanced disease was observed in only 14% of the patients. Disseminated TB was diagnosed in 23 (10%) patients. Overall, 39 (16%) patients died within 6 months after the diagnosis of PTB. The causes of death were multi-organ failure (n = 19), progressive respiratory failure (n = 11), acute myocardial infarction (n = 2), massive gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 2), hepatic failure (n = 2), malignancy (n = 2), and heart failure (n = 1). Univariate analysis revealed that the mortality was associated with older age, a lower serum albumin level, and the presence of cavitary lesion and pleural effusion Cyclin-dependent kinase 3 on chest radiographs ( Table 1). There was no difference in sex, body mass index, habits of smoking

and drinking alcohol, comorbidities, microbiology, and other blood testing results between nonsurvivors and survivors. In PTB patients, mean serum levels of PCT, CRP, and sTREM-1 were 0.47 ± 2.60 ng/mL, 17.3 ± 37.2 mg/L, and 161 ± 185 pg/mL, respectively. Twenty-seven (11%) patients had PCT levels exceeding the normal cutoff value of 0.5 ng/mL and 105 (43%) had serum levels of CRP above the upper limit of normal of 5 mg/L. The PCT, CRP, and sTREM-1 levels on the diagnosis of PTB were higher in patients who died within 6 months (PCT: 2.22 ± 6.22 vs. 0.13 ± 0.31 ng/mL, P = 0.043; CRP: 42.1 ± 59.4 vs. 12.5 ± 29.1 mg/L, P = 0.004; sTREM-1: 332 ± 362 vs. 128 ± 98 pg/mL, P = 0.001). Fig. 1 displays serum levels of PCT, CRP, and sTREM-1 in 6-month survivors and nonsurvivors. To assess the potential of the three biomarkers to predict 6-month mortality, ROC curves were plotted (Fig. 2). The analysis identified the areas under the curves (AUCs) of 0.79 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71–0.87), 0.75 (95% CI, 0.67–0.83), and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.68–0.84) for PCT, CRP, and sTREM-1, respectively. Of note, the predictive potential of the three biomarkers was comparable (P = 0.571).