People living with tuberculosis often face other health challenges like HIV, diabetes, or poor nutrition. A new review looked at how these conditions affect lung damage after recovery. The team analyzed data from adults in low- and middle-income countries. They found that people living with HIV had lower odds of developing lung disease defined by breathing tests. However, adults with poor nutrition had higher odds of lung problems. The link to diabetes remained unclear.
The researchers combined information from 41 different studies. They screened over 10,000 people to reach their conclusions. Yet, the tools used to measure lung damage varied widely across these studies. This inconsistency makes it hard to draw firm conclusions about the overall risk.
The certainty of the evidence for these findings was very low. Many of the included studies carried a high risk of bias. Because of this uncertainty, experts say we need new, forward-looking studies to better understand how these health conditions interact with tuberculosis recovery.