A survey of deaths in hospitalized patients for pulmonary tuberculosis. |
Seung Joon Oh, Ki Heon Yoon, Jee Hong Yoo, Hong Mo Kang |
Department of Internal Medicine, Kyunghee University , School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea |
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Abstract |
Background After the introduction of more potent antituberculous drugs and the nationwide tuberculosis management the prevalence rate and mortality rate of pulmonary tuberculosis has been reduced continuously. But we still experienced many patients who succumbed to this disease. 50 we investigated the causes of treatment failure and death of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis to delineate the problems in the management of these patients.
Methods Retrospective analysis of medical records of 55 patients who died of pulmonary tuberculosis in Kyung-Hee University Hospital during the period of Mar. 1979.Feb. 1990.
Results
1) Average duration of illness was 11.9:1: 10.1 years.
2) The mortality rate of in-patients with pulmonary tuberculosis was 2.09%.
3) 47.3% of patients had been treated more than twice and the sputum positive rate was 52.7%.
4) Causes of death were acute respiratory failure (56.4%), asphyxia by hemoptysis (14.6%), cor pulmonale (9.1%), tension pneumothorax (7.3%), vital organ involvement (9.1%), and coexisting diseases (3.5%).
Conclusion Many of these patients had long duration of illness, persistant sputum AFB and high incidence of acute respiratory failure as a fatal complication. It seemed that patient’s neglect of their disease and inadequate treatment had caused aggravation of tuberculosis. |
Key Words:
Cause of death, Treatment failure, Pulmonary tuberculosis |
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