Chest
Clinical InvestigationsInfectionTuberculosis in Young Adults and the Elderly: A Prospective Comparison Study
Section snippets
Methods
All cases of pulmonary and pleural TB reported to the Registry, Division of Tuberculosis Control, Ministry of Health, BC, between January 1990 and May 1991 formed the study group. The definition of active TB included disease proved by isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by culture from a patient and disease diagnosed by clinical and radiologic criteria with an appropriate response to therapy but without bacteriologic confirmation. The cases in which M tuberculosis was isolated are called
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis was done using a software package (SPSS). Differences between means were compared using a one-way analysis of variance. The χ2 test was also used to determine the significance of relationships between measurements on the nominal scale.
Demographics
During the study period, there were 233 cases of TB. One hundred forty-two cases occurred in young adults and 76 cases occurred in the elderly patients. Fifteen patients with confirmed HIV positive serologic tests were also diagnosed during the study period but were excluded. The mean age of the young adults was 41.6 years (median, 40.5 years; range, 16 to 64 years; SD± 13.45). The elderly group had a mean age of 75 years (median, 74 years; range, 65 to 96 years; SD±8.09). The major ethnic
Discussion
Although recent attention has focused on TB associated with HIV infection,3 TB continues to cause significant disease in the elderly, such that in 1988 the incidence of cases in patients older than 65 years was close to twice as high as any other age group.16,17 Prior to the recent onset of HIV-associated TB, the elderly, newly arrived immigrants, and minority populations were the groups in North America whose rates of disease continued to rise.6 The elderly have documented very high rates of
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank Dawn Sedmak for her secretarial assistance.
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2019, European Journal of Internal MedicineCitation Excerpt :Sarinc Ulasli et al. and Allan et al. confirmed that diagnostic yield of conventional TBNA, endobronchial and transbronchial biopsies is not different when compared between younger and older patients [8,29]. The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in the elderly may be particularly difficult [37,38]. Atypical clinical and radiographic presentations and the difficulty of older patients to provide adequate sputum may contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment [26,38].
Supported in part by the B. C. Lung Association.
This study was funded by the B.C. Lung Association.
Manuscript revision accepted December 7.