Pattern of tuberculosis in patients of a university hospital during the period (2004–2011)

Aim of the workTo identify the pattern of infection among diagnosed patients with tuberculosis presented to chest diseases clinic and/or admitted to the department of chest diseases in Bab El Shaaria (Al-Azhar) University hospital.Subjects and methodsBy retrospective analysis of available data, all patients who were diagnosed and registered in the period from January 2004 till December 2011 in the follow up records in TB clinic and in the chest diseases department in Bab El Shaaria University hospital were included. Data were collected from the patient files. These data included: full history, chest X-ray, sputum examination results, and all other data related to the patient’s condition.ResultsA total of 384 patients were registered in TB clinic in Bab El Shaaria University hospital with a diagnosis of tuberculosis (pulmonary or extra-pulmonary). Their age ranged from 3 to 80 years, with mean age of 37.5 + 16.0 years. As regards gender there were 178 male patients (46.4%), and 206 female patients (53.6%). As regards site affected there were 209 patients (54.4%) with pulmonary TB and 175 patients (45.6%) with extrapulmonary TB. The percentage of TB cases to the total number of chest clinic visitors per year was ranging between 0.08% and 0.8% with an average of 0.48%, while the percentage of pulmonary TB cases to the total number of TB cases per year was ranging between 27% and 65% of total TB cases per year with an average of 51.7%.