The Dietary Diversity And Nutrient Intakes In Pulmonary TB Patients

Objective To estimate the nutritional status of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients by analyzing the dietary diversity score (DDS), nutrient intakes and meal pattern combining some biochemical indicators, and to provide available advice for the prevention and curing of PTB through dietary therapy.Methods 1095 pulmonary TB patients and 658 control subjects of Linyi, China, were selected randomly to accept the survey of dietary frequency and 24-hour dietary recall. The data of nutrient intakes was analyzed, with the level of 20 kinds of nutrients intake being calculated and compared with the nationwide level and recommended nutrient intakes (RNI) respectively.The data coming out from survey of food frequency was calculated through specialized software to get the DDS of pulmonary TB, and correlations between DDS and age, BMI were analyzed.Face to face investigation was also utilized to get the information of the meal pattern of PTB patients. Biochemical indicators, including glucose, triglyeride, total cholesterol and haemoglobin, were tested in both cases and control subjects.Results The mean energy intake of PTB patients was 1649.30kcal per day, which was 31.28% below the RNI, and the intakes of some major nutrients were far behind the nationwide average level, especially calcium and zinc, which were daily 266.06mg and 7.42mg respectively, less than a half of the RNI. The daily intakes of several kinds of vitamine were insufficient compared with the RNI, such as retinol (218.73μg), thiamin (0.47mg) and lactochrome (0.49mg), which were 27.34%,33.29% and 35.30% of RNI respectively.A low dietary diversity was found in PTB patients with the average DDS being 5.06 points, and 229 (20.9%) patients got 4 points. The mean DDS of control subjects was 4.93, being not significantly different from the PTB patients. The DDS of female patients was significantly higher than that of male ones (p<0.05). The analysis showed a negative correlation between age and DDS (p<0.05) with the coefficient of-0.145, and a negative correlation with the coefficient of-0.73 was also exist between BMI (18.5-25.0kg/m2) and DDS (p<0.05). None of such difference or correlation was found in control subjects.The outcome of the investigation on diet condition showed that the meal pattern of PTB was fine with 70.3% of the total taking meals regularly. The comparesion of the biochemical indicators between PTB patients and healthy people suggested that the total cholesterol level of the PTB patients was significantly lower (p<0.05).Conclusion The intakes of nutrient in pulmonary tuberculosis patients are widely deficient, and the level of dietary diversity was also low. Much more approaches, such as nutritional guide, should be put into practice to improve the nutriture of PTB patients, which will be greatly helpful for the recovery from tuberculosis with no doubt.