Current Status of Fluoroquinolone Use for Treatment of Tuberculosis in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Korea

BACKGROUND: Fluoroquinolones are considered important substitutes for the treatment of tuberculosis. This study investigates the current status of fluoroquinolone for the treatment of tuberculosis. METHODS: In 2009, a retrospective analysis was performed at one tertiary referral center for 953 patients diagnosed with tuberculosis. RESULTS: A total of 226 patients (23.6%), who received fluoroquinolone at any time during treatment for tuberculosis, were enrolled in this study. The most common reasons for fluoroquinolone use were adverse events due to other anti-tuberculosis drugs (52.7%), drug resistance (23.5%), and underlying diseases (16.8%). Moxifloxacin (54.0%, 122/226) was the most commonly administered fluoroquinolone, followed by levofloxacin (36.3%, 82/226) and ofloxacin (9.7%, 22/226). The frequency of total adverse events from fluoroquinolone-containing anti-tuberculosis medication was 22.6%, whereas fluoroquinolone-related adverse events were estimated to be 2.2% (5/226). The most common fluoroquinolone-related adverse events were gastrointestinal problems (3.5%, 8/226). There were no significant differences in the treatment success rate between the fluoroquinolone and fluoroquinolone-naïve groups (78.3% vs. 78.4%, respectively). CONCLUSION: At our institution, fluoroquinolones are commonly used for the treatment of both multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and susceptible tuberculosis, especially as a substitute for adverse event-related drugs. Considering the low adverse event rates and the comparable treatment success rates, fluoroquinolones seem to be an invaluable drug for the treatment of tuberculosis.