Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with tuberculosis in a state referral hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis. Epidemiological investigation carried out as retrospective, descriptive, observational study based on the medical charts of 2404 consecutive patients diagnosed with tuberculosis between 2003 and 2010. Of these, 1721 (71.6%) were males, 683 (28.4%) were females, 35% were smokers and 12% suffered from alcoholism. The mean age of the study group was 42.6 (range from 15 to 89) years. 74.7% of the cases had or had not received an elementary school education. 64% of the patients were unoccupied and 12.8% were farm workers. Pulmonary (81%) and pleural (12%) tuberculosis were observed as the most common clinical forms. The prevalence of exposure to tuberculosis was 26%. The most frequent symptoms during admission were cough, weight loss, fatigue, sputum and night sweating, respectively. Diabetes mellitus was the most frequent comorbidity with an incidence of 7.9%. In pulmonary involvement, the rates of sputum smear examination, positive sputum smear microscopy and positive Lowenstein-Jensen culture forMycobacterium Tuberculosis were reported as 82.9, 62 and 70.7%, respectively. Most common radiological patterns were parenchymal infiltrate (48.8%) and cavitation (28.9%) in pulmonary tuberculosis. As a result, tuberculosis is seen more frequently in male, low educated, unemployed and lower income subjects of population. Marked pulmonary involvement and notably initial exposure to tuberculosis are the other remarkable findings.

Key words: Tuberculosis, demography, epidemiology.