Tuberculosis in haemodialysis patients: A single centre experience

We prospectively followed-up new patients of tuberculosis while on maintenance hemodialysis at a State Government-run tertiary care institute. Between 2000 and 2010, 1237 new patients were initiated on maintainence hemodialysis. The number of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis after initiation of hemodialysis was 131 (10.5% of 1237). The age was 46.4 ± 10.4 (range 8-85) years and there were 90 (68.7%) males. The number of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis on the basis of organ involvement were: Pulmonary-60, pleural effusion-31, lymph node-21, meningitis-8, pericardial effusion-7, peritoneum-2, latent tuberculosis-2. The incidence of tuberculosis in hemodialysis was found to be 105.9 per 1000 patient years. Male gender, diabetes mellitus, past history of tuberculosis, mining as an occupation, low serum albumin, and duration of hemodialysis more than 24 months, and unemployment were found to be significant risk-factors on univariate analysis.