TITLE:
Pulmonary and Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Qatar: A First Retrospective Population-Based Study
AUTHORS:
Mohammed Abu Khattab, Fahmi Yousef Khan, Mona Al Maslamani, Abdul Latif Al-Khal, Akram El Gendy, Hussam Al Soub, Faraj S. Howady
KEYWORDS:
Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis in Qatar
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.5 No.4,
November
23,
2015
ABSTRACT: Background: There is
limited information about extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in Qatar. The aim
of this study is to describe the demographic characteristics of patients with
Tuberculosis (TB) in Qatar, and to compare the characteristics of EPTB with
those of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB). Patients and Methods: The study was
conducted at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Qatar, from January 2005 to
December 2008. It involves all cases of TB diagnosed in Qatar which do not
include patients who are diagnosed by routine screening tests upon entry to
state of Qatar. Results: 1221 cases of TB were reported; 654 (53.6%) were EPTB;
and 567 (46.4%) were PTB. Nine hundred fifty-one (77.9%) were males and two
hundred and seventy (22.1%) were females; the mean age was 32.7 ± 811.7 years; only 6.9%
(84/1221) of them were Qataris. The most frequent associated condition was
diabetesmellitus (DM) (30; 2.5%), and the most frequent site involved was lymph
node (285 cases; 43.5%). One thousand two hundred patients continued on
first-line drugs while 21 patients received second line treatment. The mean
duration of antituberculous therapy was 6.7 ± 1.7 months. Hepatitis was the
main drug toxicity. Eight hundred and forty seven patients (69.3%) cured and
eight patients (0.7%) died, whereas the remaining three hundred and sixty-six
patients (30.0%) had left the country before completing therapy. The proportion
of EPTB among females was higher than males, whereas diabetes mellitus was
strongly associated with PTB. Conclusion: TB is still common in Qatar with
predominance of EPTB. Although male predominated, the proportion of TB, EPTB
among females was higher than males.