DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i02.030

Pages: 620-622

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem. Some patients present with minimal lesions where as others present with advanced lesions. This is a Case control study to identify the strength of associations between smoking and COPD and severity of disease. There were 80 cases and 80 controls. The study was done over a period of 18 months. In severe disease group 63.75% were smokers, but in patients with minimal lesions, 46.25% were smokers. COPD was present in 28.75% of the former group, whereas it was only 6.25% in patients with minimal lesions. Both univariate and multivariate analysis were done. Univariate analysis showed that both smoking and COPD were risk factors for the development of severe pulmonary tuberculosis. When these factors were analysed along with age by multivariate method, only COPD was found to be significant. COPD was found to be an independent risk factor for the development of severe forms of pulmonary tuberculosis.