Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of all sputum smear-negative TB suspects
|
Characteristic |
All suspects |
TB |
Non-TB |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 126 | N = 54 | N = 72 | ||
| Age, years (mean ± SD) |
51.0 ± 18.2 |
45.3 ± 18.8 |
55.4 ± 16.6 |
0.002 |
| Male, n (%) |
68 (54.0) |
26 (48.1) |
42 (58.3) |
0.256 |
| Previous TB history, n (%) |
33 (26.2) |
8 (14.8) |
25 (34.7) |
0.014 |
| Immunocompromised patient, n (%) |
11 (8.7) |
4 (7.4) |
7 (9.7) |
0.649 |
| CXR positivity, n (%) |
44 (34.9) |
29 (53.7) |
15 (20.8) |
< 0.001 |
| QFT-IT positivity*, n (%) |
33/51 (64.7) |
20/23 (87.0) |
13/28 (46.4) |
0.009 |
| Active pulmonary TB, n (%) |
54 (42.9) |
54 (100.0) |
|
|
| Culture confirmed, n (%)† |
|
48 (88.9) |
|
|
| Biopsy confirmed, n (%) | 6 (11.1) |
Definition of abbreviations: TB = tuberculosis, SD = standard deviation, n = number, CXR = chest x-ray, QFT-IT = QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube.
*51 of 126 cases were examined with this test.
†Of the 48 culture-confirmed cases, 28 showed cultures positive in both sputum and bronchial washing specimens, 6 only in sputum and 14 only in bronchial washing specimens.