Risk factors for tuberculosis infection: a brief report

Background: Tuberculosis is one of the most important diseases with annually 8 million new cases worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) infection. Methods: In this descriptive study performed in Health center of Maznadaran province during 2010-2011, 183 patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB infection were recruited. After measuring fasting blood sugar, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies, history of smoking was taken by using a questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.8±19.8 years. The most common risk factor was diabetes and the lowest was HIV infection. Moreover, the prevalence of diabetes in women compared with that of men (OR=0.19, 95% CI=0.07±0.46) and smoking in men compared with women (OR=12.4, 95% CI=2.8±54.4, P<0.05) had statistically significant differences (P