Demography and clinical outcome of pulmonary tuberculosis in Kashmir; 2 year prospective study

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, primarily affecting lungs. One-third of the world’s population is currently infected with the TB bacillus. Tuberculosis is one of the three primary diseases of poverty. The risk of developing tuberculosis is higher in immunocompromised persons and is a chronic debilitating disease. Aims and objectives: To study the demographic features and clinical outcome of pulmonary tuberculosis. Materials and methods: A prospective study involving 72 pulmonary tuberculosis patients above 18 years. Results: In our study 45 were below the age of 40 years with a mean age of 47 years ±12.39, with a male to female ratio of 1.4:1.61; patients were from rural areas and 18 were labourers. Two were HIV positive; fever was the main presenting complaint. Mean haemoglobin was 11.2 ± 2.48. Mean ESR was 45.2 ± 12.55. Bronchoscopy was done in 13 patients and 4 had bronchoalveolar lavage positive for AFB. All patients received a daily regimen of ATT. 4 were treated as Cat II, rest were treated as Cat I. 64 patients (88.8%) were cured, 8 (11.1%) are on follow up. No resistance was documented in any of the patients. Treatment related complications were seen in 43 (30.8%). Conclusion: Tuberculosis most commonly occurs in younger patients, especially from rural areas. Due to the low prevalence of HIV in Kashmir association with HIV was low. The Commonest presentation was fever. Most patients had a good response to daily regimen and the most common drug related side effect was hepatitis