Prevalence and Clinical Profile of Tuberculosis Patients in a Rural Teaching Hospital in South-South Nigeria: A Ten-Year Retrospective Study

Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, distribution, and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) in a rural hospital in Nigeria.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted between 2013 and 2022. The data on all patients diagnosed with TB during the study period were collected from the hospital's registry. The data was then entered into SPSS for analysis. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results: The overall prevalence of TB among TB suspects was 41.3%. Pulmonary TB was the most common form of TB, accounting for 87.1% of the cases, while extrapulmonary TB accounted for 12.9%. Among extrapulmonary TB cases, TB lymphadenitis was the most common (27.2%). The mean age of the patients was 44.7±10.9 years, with the majority of cases in the 51-60 and 31-40-year age groups. Males were more affected than females (59.1% vs. 40.9%), and 5.6% of TB patients were HIV-positive. The frequency of rifampicin-resistant TB was 9.5%. The majority of patients (96.5%) had a successful treatment outcome, with 28.9% being cured and 67.6% completing their treatment. Treatment failure occurred in 0.4% of TB cases, while 0.9% defaulted, and 2.2% died. Patients with rifampicin-resistant TB had lower odds of treatment success than those without rifampicin-resistant TB (P = 0.03; OR: 0.5; CI: 0.26-0.96).

Conclusions: The study revealed that TB remains a significant public health problem in Nigeria, especially in rural areas. Therefore, there is a need for increased collaboration and stronger measures to prevent and control TB, particularly in low-resource settings.