Journal
BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Volume 12, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
BIOMED CENTRAL LTD
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2334-12-57
Keywords
Tuberculosism; Diagnostic delay; Treatment delay; Risk factors
Categories
Funding
- FIPE - Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre
- ICOHRTA/Fogarty International Center/National Institutes for Health - NIH
- Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
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Background: The most essential components of TB control are early diagnosis and adequate treatment. Delay in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis may result in more extensive disease and more complications, increase severity of the disease and is associated with higher risk of mortality. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with delayed diagnosis of TB in hospitalized patients. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a general, tertiary care, university-affiliated hospital. Adult patients with TB that were hospitalized were identified retrospectively, and risk factors for delayed diagnosis were collected. Results: The median delay until diagnosis was 6 days (IQR: 2-12 days). One hundred and sixty six (54.4%) patients were diagnosed <= 6 days, and 139 (45.6%) > 6 days after admission. The main factors associated with diagnostic delay (> 6 days) were extra-pulmonary TB and negative sputum smear. Conclusions: Although hospitalization permits a rapid management of the patient and favors a faster diagnosis, we found an unacceptable time delay before the diagnosis of pulmonary TB was made. Future studies should focus on attempt to explain the reasons of diagnostic retard in the patients with the characteristics related to delay in this study.
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