Gender differences in pulmonary tuberculosis in Abbassia Chest Hospital

Abstract

Background There is growing evidence that tuberculosis (TB) case notifications in men have in many circumstances surpassed those in women. The increase in reported cases among men was often interpreted as the result of barriers to TB diagnosis faced by women in seeking care. Aim To assess Gender differences in patients with pulmonary TB in Abbassia Chest Hospital. Patients and methods This study was carried out between 1 January 2017 and 30 April 2017. Patients were divided into two groups based on Gender difference: males and females. All patients were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, radiological and laboratory investigations, and sputum examination (direct smear and Gene Xpert and sputum culture for relapse TB, treatment failure, default, and suspected smear-negative patients). Pleural aspiration was done for cytological, biochemical, and adenosine deaminase level. Therapy was initiated, and patients were followed up for 6 months. Results The study has been carried out on 126 cases of TB, comprising 98 males and 28 females. The highest prevalence of TB infection among men with respect to different occupations was seen to be manual workers (62%), and among women to be housewives (71.4%). The new cases were 73.5% for males and 89.3% for females. The default was 14.3% for males and 3.6% for females. The frequency of relapse was 10.2% in males and 7.1% in females, whereas cases of treatment failure were found only in males. Male patients were much more compatible with anti-TB treatment. Drug complications were more common in women. In terms of treatment outcome, the rate of cure was higher in males and defaulters in females were more common. Conclusion In our study, the male-to-female ratio of identified patients with TB is higher than the previously reported global figures. Female patients were more likely to be younger, housewives, had longer symptoms duration before diagnosis, were less compatible with anti-TB therapy, and had more drug complications.