Cohort profile: a multicenter hospital-based cohort of tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease in Korea, 2015-2024.

Tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) are major causes of chronic respiratory morbidity, yet detailed multicenter clinical data remain limited. We established a retrospective multicenter cohort using electronic medical records from 4 national university-affiliated tertiary hospitals in Korea. Eligible participants included patients with tuberculosis registered in the Korean National Tuberculosis Surveillance System and patients who met modified 2007 American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America microbiological criteria for NTM-PD between 2015 and 2024. De-identified, standardized datasets were created using common data specifications and harmonized at a central coordinating center. The cohort included 11,790 patients with tuberculosis and 5,145 patients with NTM-PD. Tuberculosis notifications declined steadily from 1,657 cases in 2015 to 580 cases in 2024, whereas NTM-PD showed an overall upward trend despite a modest decrease in the final year. Mycobacterium avium complex accounted for 78.7% of NTM-PD cases, with M. intracellulare and M. avium as the predominant species. Macrolide-based multidrug regimens were used consistently throughout the study period. This cohort profile describes the registry design, case definitions, data structure, and key baseline findings; the registry provides a platform for future clinical, epidemiological, and health-services research on mycobacterial disease in Korea.