Pulmonary tuberculosis in the Republic of Ireland: an epidemiological profile from a single unit

We present a retrospective epidemiological analysis of 1011 adults with a first time diagnosis of pulmonary TB seen between 1980-1985. Most (98.7%) were from the Republic of Ireland and 68.4% were male. Both males and females showed a bimodal age distribution with 37.6% of females and 18.8% of males aged younger than 30 years. More than half (58.6%) of patients smoked cigarettes and 63.7% consumed alcohol. Two patients indulged in the use of hard drugs. Only 5% of patients were asymptomatic and 0.9% of patients had symptoms for longer than 1 year. Radiologically, 54.7% of patients had bilateral disease; 58.5% had cavities and 10% had pleural effusions. Mantoux testing was positive to 1 tuberculin unit Mantoux in 76%; to 10 tuberculin units Mantoux in 15.3%; to 100 tuberculin units Mantoux in 3.7%; and negative to 100 tuberculin units in 5.0%. Primary drug resistance occurred in 0.9% of patients. Ninety (9.0%) of patients died before completing antituberculous treatment and in 40 patients tuberculosis was the principle or main cause of death.