Mohsin Sohail Siddiqui, Hafiz Abdul Moiz Fakih, Waqas Ahmed Burney, Razia Iftikhar, Nazeer Khan.
Environmental and host-related factors predisposing to tuberculosis in Karachi: a cross-sectional study.
J Pak Med Students Jan ;1(1):13-8.

Objective: To study the environmental and host-related factors predisposing to Tuberculosis in Karachi. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which was conducted at two tertiary care government hospitals. The duration of study was from September 2009 to February 2010. A total of 250 sputum-smear positive TB patients were included in the study. A questionnaire containing information on age, sex, education and occupation was completed by two separate investigators from each setting. Recall information was elicited about the presence of comorbidities, any form of addiction or immunosuppression, BCG Vaccination and close contact with a Tuberculosis patient. Results: Questionnaires were completed for 250 sputum smear positive pulmonary TB patients. The mean duration of positive sputum smear TB was 5.39(SD +4.76) months. 54% patients were male. Diabetes had the maximum prevalence with approximately 25% patients reporting to have diabetes. Most common addiction was smoking (48%) and 10% of the smokers belonged to the high risk group (20 or more cigarettes per day). 69.6% patients (N=174) lived in over-crowded houses (≥3 persons/room). Conclusions: Multiple environmental and host-related factors are present in the sputum smear positive cases of Karachi. Thus an understanding of these risk factors will contribute in the appropriate management of this disease.

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