| Objective The clinical features of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) may be changed by years, and the relationships of which are different. The clinical features of PTB patients to visit a doctor and relationship of those between age groups were discussed in this study, in order to provide a scientific basis to deepen the understanding of PTB and to improve the prevention and control of it. Methods14623medical records of PTB patients from2007to2010in seven counties of Shandong Province were collected. The records were input into the system of hospital medical records management by trained professional stuff. Then analyzed the data exported from the system. The collected information included the patients’ basic information, such as age, gender, occupation, and etc., clinical manifestations, such as cough, expectoration, fever, fatigue, hemoptysis, chest pain, loss of appetite and sweating.Results The age median of the PTB patients was51. The ratio of male to female in the patients was2.46:1. As to the occupational distribution, peasant was the highest(91.3%). Cough was the most popular symptom in PTB patients to visit a doctor(97.2%). Annual changes of clinical analysis showed that the incidence rates of expectoration and hemoptysis were gradually increased (p<0.05). However, incidence rates of cough, fever, fatigue and loss of appetite significantly decreased annually (p<0.05). It can be found between the different gender that the incidence rates of cough, expectoration, hemoptysis, and chest pain in female were significantly lower than those in male(p<0.05). The incidence of the patiens with cough and expectoration (cough+expectoration) was58.72%. It can be found in the analysis of other symptoms with cough+expectoration that accompanied by fatigue was39.22%, and followed by fever was37.76%. From the comparison between the clinical manifestations of young group (21to30years old) and elderly group (51to60years), it can be found that the standardized rates of cough, fever, fatigue and loss of appetite symptoms in elderly group were significantly higher than young group (p<0.05). The cough degree between the two groups had significant differences (p<0.05). Coughing for3to8weeks was the most common in the young group (40.5%), while coughing for more than8weeks was the most common in the elderly group (50.0%). It can be found from the cough associated with other clinical manifestations that the combination between cough respectively with fever, chest pain, fatigue and loss of appetite were significant differences in the two peak age groups (p<0.05), and the standardized rate of elderly group was significantly more than the young group. There were correlationship (p<0.05) between cough respectively with fever (r=0.146), fatigue (r=0.138), expectoration (r=0.132), night sweats (r=0.096), loss of appetite (r=0.096), and hemoptysis (r=0.018).Conclusion The constituent ratio of male was higher in PTB, and were more vulnerable to a variety of clinical symptoms. Chronic cough was more occurred in patients. More attention should be paid on the features and changes of cough, sputum and other symptoms, and the correlationship between the clinical manifestations to avoid misdiagnosing in early stage. The emergence of joint symptoms of cough, sputum, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and night sweats can play a warning role in early stage, and also can provide a basis for screening the suspected tuberculosis population. Young adults and elderly people were the susceptible stage, but should be treated differently based on their own clinical performance. Also, the occurrences of a variety of symptoms were more serious in the elderly compared with young people. It should improve protective measures for the elderly, and provide strategies for prevention and control of tuberculosis. |
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