The epidemiology of tuberculosis in Bahrain

Incidence and mortality from tuberculosis in Bahrain have been examined for the years 1965, 1971, 1980-1981 and 1983-1987. Both incidence and mortality rates have shown a large decline since 1965. Most of the decrease in incidence rates occurred in the period 1983-1987 when there was a sharp decline among non-Bahrainis by an average of 20.4% per annum, from 157.3 per 100,000 in 1983 to 63.1 per 100,000 in 1987. Rates for Bahrainis have decreased gradually since 1965 and during 1983-1987 declined from 15.8 per 100,000 to 11.9 per 100,000; an average annual decline of 6.8%. In 1983-1987, non-Bahrainis showed, on average, rates which were seven times higher than Bahrainis. In 1987, among Bahrainis the age distribution of cases shifted to older age groups in comparison to previous years, and in all the study years, there were more males with pulmonary tuberculosis than females. Rates for non-pulmonary tuberculosis showed only small fluctuations during the study period.