Tuberc Respir Dis.  2007 Nov;63(5):412-416. 10.4046/trd.2007.63.5.412.

Clinical Characteristics of Endobronchial Tuberculosis that Develops in Patients over 70 Years of Age

• Kim HJ
• Kim HS
• Ma JE
• Lee SJ
• Ham HS
• Cho YJ
• Jeong YY
• Jeon KN
• Kim HC
• Lee JD
• Hwang YS

• KMID: 2050473
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2007.63.5.412

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The possibility of developing pulmonary tuberculosis usually increases with increasing age. Therefore, the incidence of endobronchial tuberculosis in older people may increase. We evaluated the clinical characteristics in patients with endobronchial tuberculosis above the age of 70 years.
METHODS
We enrolled 74 patients (12 males and 62 females; mean age 64.6+/-16.2 years) that were diagnosed with endobronchial tuberculosis from March 2003 to July 2006 at Gyeongsang University Hospital. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical characteristics of endobronchial tuberculosis for patients 70 years or older (older group) and for patients below the age of 70 years (younger group).
RESULTS
The number of patients in the older group was 41 (55%). Cough was the most common symptom in the two groups of patients and dyspnea on exertion was more common in the older group of patients than in the younger group of patients (31.7% vs. 12.1%). The actively caesating type of disease was more common in the younger group of patients than in the older group of patients (66.7% vs. 39%). The edematous type of disease was more common in the older group of patients than in the younger group of patients (53.7% vs. 27.2%) (p<0.05). Tracheal and main bronchial involvement of lesions were more common for the younger group of patients than for the older group of patients (30.3% vs. 9.7%) (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
Endobronchial tuberculosis was commonly observed in patients older than 70 years and this group of patients had some clinical characteristics that were different from the younger group of patients.

Keyword

Endobronchial tuberculosis; Older people; Clinical characteristics

MeSH Terms

Cough
Dyspnea
Female
Humans
Incidence
Male
Retrospective Studies
Tuberculosis*
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

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