Diabetes impacts plasma concentration and bioavailability of rifampicin in TB patients: Study

Egypt: Patients with both diabetes and tuberculosis (TB) were more likely to have low plasma levels of rifampicin two hour following the administration of the TB drug, a recent study has revealed.

Findings of the study, published in the Therapies journal, found that diabetes is attributed to 37% of low plasma concentration of rifampicin n 2-h after administration but is not influenced by rifampicin's bioavailability, maximum plasma concentration, and half-life. Diabetes negative effect on plasma concentration 2 hours after administration was influenced by income level, diabetes management, type of tuberculosis, and its recurrence. 

The study was conducted by Amera Sh.Metwally, Zagazig University Hospitals, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt, and colleagues with the objective to assess the impact of diabetes mellitus on plasma concentration and bioavailability of rifampicin. 

For this purpose, the researchers screened th online databases until September 2020 on studies reported rifampicin's plasma concentration, bioavailability among diabetic tuberculosis patients and non-diabetic tuberculosis patients. The pooled estimate was operated by a random or fixed effect model according to the presence or absence of heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis or subgroup analysis were conducted. Calculation was done of attributed risk fraction of diabetes mellitus in the incidence of low rifampicin's plasma concentration 2-h after administration.