title: Inactive pulmonary lesions: a potent risk factor of tuberculosis.
abstract: Case histories and previous chest X-ray films of 142 patients with bacteriologically confirmed active pulmonary tuberculosis from eastern Finland were re-examined. In 18% of the series the disease was a reactivation of previously diagnosed and treated tuberculosis. In 70% of the patients with first clinical attack of tuberculosis, previous RP-films revealed fibrotic lesions in the lungs. Only 23% of the whole series had no previous abnormality on chest X-ray examination or previous clinical tuberculosis. Fibrotic pulmonary lesions are therefore a significant risk factor in the epidemiology of pulmonary tuberculosis, which has been given too little attention.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000150:complications*; D012008:Recurrence; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis