title: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis in Peninsular Malaysia: retrospective study of 195 cases.
abstract: During a 2-year retrospective study, 195 non-HIV-infected patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPT) were diagnosed at the National Tuberculosis Center, Kuala Lumpur, representing 10% of all patients with tuberculosis. Their mean age was 39 (+/- SD) 14 years old (range 14-81). The largest age group was 25-34 years, while 78.5% were less than 50 years of age. The subjects were mainly female (50.3%), Malay (49.2%), married (61.5%), resided in Kuala Lumpur (51.0%), and were unemployed (50.3%). Regarding risk factors, they were smokers and/or alcohol users (21.0%), and injecting drug users (IDUs) (5.1%); they also had history of tuberculosis (3.6%) and contact with TB patients (9.2%). Lymphadenopathy was the most common sign (45.6%) shown in the medical records. 42% of x-ray findings (chest, spine, and hip) showed signs consistent with tuberculosis, while histopathology was the most useful diagnostic tool (52.3%) and lymph node was the most frequent specimen used (35.0%) in this study. The three main sites of involvement were lymph nodes (42.6%), miliary and disseminated (19.5%), and pleura (12.8%). The outcome of this study showed 72.8% of these patients had completed treatment for at least 6 months, whilst, only 4.6% of patients were still undergoing treatment, and unfortunately, 22.6% of them showed non-adherence to anti-tubercular therapy at a duration of less than 6 months. However, no MDR-TB or death cases were reported or registered in this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, University of Malaya Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. nissapat@hotmail.com
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nissapatorn
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kuppusamy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rohela
authors.forename: A Khairul
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Anuar
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Fong
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*