[Factors associated with development of tuberculosis among children and young adults: a study of newly registered cases].
In order to elucidate the factors relevant to the management and prevention of tuberculosis among children and young adults, a total of 191 tuberculosis cases who were newly registered at Health Centers in Saitama Prefecture and were aged less than 30 years were interviewed, and case-finding processes, treatment course and risk factors for clinical development were studied. Analyses of the time course from the patients' becoming aware of the clinical symptoms through the establishment of the diagnosis showed that the bacteriologically positive patients and the patients with cavitary lesion took a longer time before initiating medical action and before being finally diagnosed as tuberculous. Follow-up observation of patients' course of treatment revealed that 13% of the patients took prescribed medication irregularly or were lost to treatment. A case-control study was performed to determine the relationship between life style and disease risk. The control group was selected to match the patients for age and sex and also roughly with occupation. The risk factors found to be associated with the development of tuberculosis in this study included; family members' present or past history of tuberculosis, working night shift every week, eating at home less than once a day, diet not well balanced, indifference to personal health, lack of knowledge about tuberculosis and not attending 'cram' school. Also, patients were more likely to be taller and slimmer than controls.
Komatsu
R
R
Yoshikawa Health Centre, Saitama Prefecture.
Kitai
A
A
Mori
T
T
Yamada
Y
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*