Language and racial disparities in treatment initiation for patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

Publisher: Biomed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101462768 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1756-0500 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 17560500 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Res Notes Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : Biomed Central, 2008.

Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous*/drug therapy ; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous*/microbiology ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria*/isolation & purification ; Healthcare Disparities*/ethnology ; Healthcare Disparities*/statistics & numerical data; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Language ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Adult ; Lung Diseases/microbiology ; Lung Diseases/ethnology

Objective: Disparities in testing and treatment of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria (P-NTM) warrant further investigation into language and race's impact on treatment initiation. The objective of the study is to compare the length of treatment initiation for P-NTM patients assessed in the pulmonary and infectious diseases clinics through language and race.
Results: The cohort included 63 patients; 28 patients received treatment, and 35 patients did not receive treatment. According to the IDSA/ATS guidelines for diagnosis of pulmonary NTM, 55% of patients met all three categories, 40% of patients did not fulfill all three categories and 5% of patient charts were inconclusive. Charts were considered inconclusive if a comprehensive NTM evaluation was not conducted, such as no CT imaging, only one culture sent, or lost to follow up.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval and consent waived by the Tufts Medical Center Institutional Review Board. The study was considered exempt as there was no direct patient involvement. The data was not anonymized before use. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Health disparities; Non-tuberculous mycobacteria; Pulmonary

0 (Anti-Bacterial Agents)

Date Created: 20250302 Date Completed: 20250303 Latest Revision: 20250305

20250305

PMC11871829

10.1186/s13104-025-07126-1

40025546