Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with tuberculosis in the state of Carabobo, Venezuela

Abstract

Introduction: tuberculosis (TB) is one of the main causes of mortality worldwide with a tendency to stagnation in its control. Venezuela follows the global tendency, and in particular the state of Carabobo, which accounts for significant numbers of respiratory diseases. Objective: to describe the clinical-epidemiological characteristics of TB that occurred during one year in the state of Carabobo.

Method: descriptive, field and retrospective study.

Results: a total of 712 cases of pulmonary TB and 15 cases of extrapulmonary TB were part of the study, most of them in the municipality of Valencia of the state of Carabobo, with fundamental involvement of the male gender (76% and 67% respectively), and 67% of the patients affected being economically productive, as well as 53% of the patients with the extrapulmonary variant, being the meningeal the extrapulmonary variant of greater frequency. Likewise, 16.1% of patients with pulmonary TB were deprived of their liberty. Those affected with TB have a higher risk of alcohol intake as a risk factor and malnutrition as an added pathology. Those affected with pulmonary TB show the classic symptomatology with a bilateral cavitary radiological pattern of secondary TB.

Conclusions: the TB morbidity rate in 2017 shows an important increase for the Carabobo state, contrary to the global tendency to decrease, and this study constitutes an update on the clinical-epidemiological characterization of TB in the state of Carabobo with the purpose of providing official organizations with information for making health decisions for the effective control of this disease.