Impact of age and radiographic presentation on the presumptive diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Effect of age on presentation with diabetes: Comparison of nondiabetic patients with new smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients

Background:

Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been reported to modify the presenting features of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), but data regarding the effect of diabetes on the presentation of PTB are highly variable.

Objective:

To determine whether DM alters the demographic, clinical, and radiological manifestations of tuberculosis and whether the effect of diabetes varies with the age group of PTB patients.

Materials and Methods :

This prospective observational study was conducted on new smear-positive PTB patients with DM (PTB-DM group) and non-diabetic PTB patients (PTB group). Patients of both groups were again divided into six age groups (15–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, and >70 rears) to analyze and compare the impact of age on clinicoradiological presentations of PTB.

Results:

Patients in the PTB-DM group were significantly older (53.34 ± 14.06 year) in comparison to their nondiabetic counterparts (PTB group) (44.35 ± 18.14 year) (P < 0.001). The former group also had a lower male:female ratio, although the difference was not statistically significant (1.16:1 vs. 2.05:1, P = 0.101). Tuberculin positivity was significantly higher in the PTB group, compared with patients in the PTB-DM group (P < 0.004). The proportion of patients with lower lung field involvement (P = 0.003) and cavitations (P = 0.005) was also higher in the former group compared with the latter.

Conclusion:

Diabetic patients with tuberculosis were relatively older, had lower tuberculin positivity, and higher proportion of lower lung field involvement and cavitation in comparison to nondiabetic patients.

Mortality of tuberculosis in very old people

OBJECTIVES

To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) in elderly people.

DESIGN

Observational analysis of a prospective cohort of adults with TB (1995-2004). A case-control study to determine attributable mortality to TB in very old people was done.

RESULTS

Of 319 patients with TB, 109 (34.2%) were aged 65 and older. The older group was more likely to have comorbidities (1.4% vs 0.4%; P<.001), extrapulmonary and disseminated TB (50.4% vs 26.1%; P<.001), toxicity (22% vs 9.8%; P=.006), and 30-day mortality (18.3% vs 1.6%; P<.001). When patients aged 65 to 79 were compared with those aged 80 and older, only differences in TB-related mortality were detected (9.8% vs 44.4%; P=.01). In the attributable mortality analysis, 30-day and 6-month mortality were higher in very old patients with TB than in controls without TB (41.7% vs 11.1%, P=.005; 45.8% and 19.4%, P=.01, respectively). No differences in mortality were shown when excluding patients with postmortem TB diagnosis or those who died within the first 72 hours of diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Older people with TB had a higher frequency of atypical features, more adverse drug reactions, and greater TB-related mortality than younger people. Data suggest that very old patients with TB have higher mortality, but if diagnosed early and adequately treated, very old patients with TB do not have greater mortality than those without.

Aspectos clínicos da tuberculose pulmonar em idosos atendidos em hospital universitário do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

OBJETIVOS: Avaliar as características clínicas e diagnósticas da tuberculose pulmonar (TP) em idosos. MÉTODOS: Foram comparados 117 pacientes com 60 anos de idade ou mais (idosos) e 464 pacientes entre 15 e 49 anos (não idosos), acompanhados no Instituto de Doenças do Tórax da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, de 1980 a 1996. RESULTADOS: Nos idosos, predominou história prévia de TP (OR = 2,09; IC95% = 1,26-3,45; p = 0,002) enquanto o contato intradomiciliar de TP predominou nos não idosos (OR = 0,26; IC95% = 0,10-0,66; p = 0,002). O tempo mediano para diagnóstico alcançou 90 dias nos idosos e 60 dias nos não idosos. No grupo idoso, prevaleceu a dispnéia (OR = 1,64; IC95% = 1,06-2,53; p = 0,018) e o emagrecimento (OR = 1,66; IC95% = 1,01-2,82; p = 0,047). Nos não idosos, prevaleceu a hemoptise (OR = 0,51; IC95% = 0,32-0,81; p = 0,002), a dor torácica (OR = 0,62; IC95% = 0,40-0,97; p = 0,027) e a febre (OR = 0,55; IC95% = 0,35-0,86; p = 0,006). No padrão radiológico, predominaram as infiltrações e as cavitações; porém, o acometimento bilateral foi mais freqüente nos idosos (OR = 1,76; IC95% = 1,12-2,78; p = 0.009). Não houve diferenças nas positividades do teste tuberculínico, baciloscopia e cultura de Mycobacterium tuberculosis. CONCLUSÕES: Há poucas diferenças clínicas e laboratoriais entre os grupos etários e o maior tempo de diagnóstico nos idosos deve-se à menor suspeição médica nestes pacientes.

Diagnostic and therapeutic problems of pulmonary tuberculosis in elderly patients

To identify differences in the clinical, radiologic, and microbiologic features of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in the young (<64 yr) and elderly (> or =65 yr), we performed a retrospective analysis of the medical charts and chest radiographs of 207 young and 119 elderly pulmonary TB patients. Hemoptysis and a febrile sense were more frequent in the young, whereas weakness, dyspnea, anorexia, and mental change were more frequent in the elderly. Elderly patients showed higher frequencies of cardiovascular and chronic lung diseases, whereas the young showed a higher proportion of underlying liver disease. In addition, chest radiography showed a significantly higher frequency of mid or lower lung involvement by TB lesions in the elderly (10.6% vs. 22.7%, p<0.05). Lesions were frequently misdiagnosed as pneumonia or lung cancer in the elderly. However, there was no difference between these two groups in terms of sputum acid-fast bacilli positivity. The elderly showed a higher frequency of adverse drug reactions (18.5% vs. 40.7%, p<0.05), and higher TB-related mortality (1.3% vs. 11.1%, p<0.05). In conclusion this study showed that young and elderly pulmonary TB patients have similar microbiologic features; however, the elderly showed higher frequencies of atypical clinical and radiologic presentations, adverse drug reactions, and higher TB-related mortality.

Revised Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Control of Tuberculosis

Despite major progress in the development of new strategies for diagnosing and treating tuberculosis, the disease still remains a major challenge for healthcare workers throughout the world. A number of causes are responsible for this threat but, unfortunately, many of these cannot be resolved easily because of cultural and social factors. Furthermore, not all countries throughout the world have enough financial resources to support educational and therapeutic programmes. The major challenges with tuberculosis are 2-fold: (i) to deal with the growing epidemic around the world (and especially in 'low-income' [developing] countries), and; (ii) to ensure correct use of antituberculosis medications in order to protect these drugs for future use. In 'high-income' countries, a major decline in the incidence of tuberculosis has been observed. Nevertheless, tuberculosis remains an important challenge in some risk groups, particularly the elderly patient, in these countries. The clinical and radiological presentations are often nonspecific, leading to delayed diagnosis and appropriate treatment, which often results in a large proportion of cases being discovered at autopsy only. Considering tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis remains the cornerstone of a fast and accurate diagnosis of this condition. Management of active tuberculosis in the elderly does not differ fundamentally from that in younger patients with respect to outcomes or adverse effects of treatment. However, empirical treatment perhaps may be considered more readily in the elderly patient. Elderly persons infected with tuberculosis at the beginning of the 20th century constitute a large reservoir of latent tuberculosis infection. Furthermore, these individuals are at increased risk of reactivation of this remote infection as their immunological status declines with aging. Compared with the past, modern guidelines are less reluctant to recommend use of tuberculin skin testing, treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in elderly persons, and prevention of transmission of tuberculosis in nursing homes.