Tuberculosis among Patients Admitted to the Department of Medicine of a Tertiary Care Center in Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis has high burden in developing countries like Nepal. This study aims to determine the prevalence of tuberculosis among patients admitted in the department of medicine of a tertiary hospital. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study of all the patients admitted to the tertiary care hospital from 1(st) January 2017 to 31(st) December 2019 was done. Ethical approval was obtained from Institutional Review Committee (Ref: drs2006181387). Convenience sampling method was used. A descriptive analysis of demographic, clinical and laboratory profile of patients was made using Microsoft Excel version 2016. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Among 6829 patients admitted to the department of medicine, 209 (3.06%) (2.65-3.47 at 95% CI) patients were diagnosed with tuberculosis. Among them, 147 (70.33%) were males and the mean age was 49.77 years. Pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis were present in 153 (73.20%) and 56 (26.79%) patients, respectively. Bacteriological confirmation was limited to 107 (70%) of pulmonary tuberculosis and 3 (5%) of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Fever was the commonest presentation in 166 (79.42%) followed by cough in 164 (78.46%), anorexia in 108 (51.67%), weight loss 104 (49.76%), and others. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that the prevalence of tuberculosis among admitted patients was higher than national prevalence.