The pattern of tuberculosis in Aswan Chest Hospital, Egypt

Objective/backgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem. The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of TB in Aswan Chest Hospital, Aswan, Egypt.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was carried out using medical records from the TB registry in Aswan Chest Hospital. The investigated variables included demographic characteristics, type of TB infection, and affected organs. All data were coded and statistically analyzed.ResultsThe average age of the 557 patients infected with TB was 40.31 ± 18.87 years; 58.2% of the cases were men and 41.8% were women. In both sexes, the highest number of TB patients was from the reproductive age groups. During the 5-year study period, the highest percentage of cases were new cases and the highest frequency of cases was during 2011 and the lowest frequency was during 2015. Pulmonary TB cases showed a sharp decline; however, there was a decrease in extrapulmonary TB cases during 2012 and 2013, with a slight rise in 2014 and 2015. Of the pulmonary TB cases, 82.5% were smear-positive TB.ConclusionThere was a decline in the total number of TB cases across the studied years and the most studied cases were pulmonary smear-positive and new cases. Younger people represented a large percentage of reported cases.