Effect of administration of rifampicin on the adrenocortical function in patients with pulmonary tuerculosis

摘要

The ACTH (synacthen) stimulation test wasudperformed on admission and after 4 weeks ofudtreatment in 17 pulmonary tuberculosis patientsudreceiving daily Rifampicin regimen (R-7), 22udpatients on a twice-weekly Rifampicin regimenud(R-2) and 19 patients on a daily non Rifampicinudregimen (NR-7). A positive response toudsynacthen was observed in 8 R-7, 16 R-2 and 8udNR-7 patients on admission and in 7, 15 and 15udpatients respectively at 4 weeks. The increase inudthe proportion of positive responders among theudNR-7 patients was significant (P = 0.02). ThreeudR-7 and 2 R-2 patients who were positiveudresponders to synacthen on admission becameudnegative responders at 4 weeks, a phenomenonudnot observed in the NR-7 patients. These findingsudsuggest that Rifampicin probably exerts auddeleterious effect on the adrenocortical function.