Association of pulmonary tuberculosis with increased dietary iron

To determine whether increased dietary iron could be a risk factor for acti ve tuberculosis, dietary iron history and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV ) status were studied in 98 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and in 98 control subjects from rural Zimbabwe. Exposure to high levels of dietary ir on in the form of traditional beer is associated with increased iron stores in rural Africans. HIV seropositivity was associated with a 17.3-fold incr ease in the estimated odds of developing active tuberculosis (95% confidenc e interval [95% CI], 7.4-40.6; P<.001), and increased dietary iron was asso ciated with a 3.5-fold increase (95% CI, 1.4-8.9; P =.009). Among patients treated for tuberculosis, HIV seropositivity was associated with a 3.8-fold increase in the estimated hazard ratio of death (95% CI, 1.0-13.8; P =.046 ), and increased dietary iron was associated with a 1.3-fold increase (95% CI, 0.4-6.4; P =.2). These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that elevated dietary iron may increase the risk of active pulmonary tuberculos is.