Study Finds TB Prevalence More Common Among Elderly, HIV Patients

According to a new study the highest death rates from tuberculosis (TB) are from those aged over 50 or infected with HIV.

The study by the Barcelona Public Health Agency has been published in the journal Respiratory Research.

"Some patients give up their tuberculosis treatment (which lasts for a minimum of six months), resulting in a danger of them infecting other people, worsening their own state of health or even dying", Joan A. Caylà, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), tells SINC.

The study identifies the factors linked to people giving up tuberculosis treatment and deaths from the disease.

To reach the conclusion, researchers from the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) analysed a sample of 1,490 people with the illness in Spain between 2006 and 2007.

The results of these studies show that abandoning tuberculosis treatment is usually related to having undergone previous treatment for the disease, being an injecting drug user (IDU), living with a large number of people, and also the doctor's perception that the patient does not have a good understanding of the treatment.

Source-ANI
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