[Tuberculosis screening in respiratory department inpatients in comprehensive medical institutions]

Objective: To explore the effect of screening tuberculosis patients in the respiratory department of general hospitals, and to provide a basis for the development of patient screening strategy. Methods: Clinical information and sputum samples of inpatients in the respiratory department of a general hospital in Longhua District, Shenzhen from December 2018 to December 2020 were collected. Sputum samples were sent to the tuberculosis laboratory of the Shenzhen Longhua Center for Chronic Disease Control (designated tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment institution) for sputum smear, liquid culture and Gene-Xpert test. Results: A total of 407 sputum samples (23 cases of suspected tuberculosis by chest imaging and 384 by clinical manifestations) were collected from 3 724 hospitalized patients. A total of 88 patients with positive etiology were detected by the three methods, and the positive rate was 21.6% (88/407), among which 15 patients with suspected tuberculosis were detected by imaging reports, and the positive rate of etiology was 19.0% (73/384) in the reported patients without imaging reports. At least 1.96% (73/3 724) of the hospitalized patients were estimated to be tuberculosis positive during the study. Pneumonia (30.1%,22/73), cough (15.1%,11/73) and pulmonary infection (15.1%,11/73) were the main characteristics in the patients with positive pathogens. Conclusions: Screening for tuberculosis among inpatients in the respiratory department of general hospitals is an effective way to detect patients who were radiographically reported to have probable tuberculosis. It is of great significance to carry out active screening in key departments of general hospitals for tuberculosis detection and control.