[Therapeutic modalities applied to tuberculotics in the Rhône Department in 1982]

Four hundred tuberculous patients who had been recorded in the register of the Rhône department during 1982 were retrospectively investigated for treatment procedures (hospital care and drug regimen); 89 had to be excluded: 42 died during treatment, in 30 the initial diagnosis was no longer maintained, 17 were lost to follow up. Hospital admission was required in more than 91% patients and 60% patients were sent to sanatoria. The duration of hospital care varied with the physician (university or not, pneumologist or not), the disease (localization, bacteriology) and the patients: the shortest duration was seen in young North African women, the longest in maghrebian men. Compared with "official recommendation" chemotherapy is usually prescribed for longer than necessary (mean treatment duration: 11 months. Ethambutol prescription for 8 months). These data illustrate the usual gap seen between "scientific" data given by controlled trials and routine practice.