Abstract

The N-acetylation of isoniazid was studied in three different groups of lranian and Afghani population (182 healthy volunteers, 78 infectious non-tuberculotic patients and 111 tuberculous patients, total of 371 subjects). The frequency of slow acetylator was determined using the percentage of acetylisoniazid excreted in urine which was about 59% in both populations. Also, the frequency distribution histogram of isoniazid phenotypes in studied population showed an apparent bimodal pattern. Statistical analysis of healthy volunteer's data versus all other patient's data indicated that there is no significant difference between slow and rapid acetylators. The finding of this study is very similar to that of the earlier results found among other cauccasian groups. However, The knowledge of the acetylator phenotype of a patient can help to determine the relative risk for some of the drug-related toxic and therapeutic responses.