MALNUTRITION INDEX DEFICIENCY AS ONE OF THE PREDICTORS OF TUBERCULOSIS DEVELOPMENT IN THE COUNTRY WITH A HIGH BURDEN OF DISEASE

Abstract

Objective: The comparative study of nutrition index in healthy persons and TB patients, residents of different regions of Tajikistan and determination of the relationship between the degree of protein-energy insufficiency of the body and the transition of latent tuberculosis into an active form of the disease. Methods: Under surveillance were 390 healthy persons and 200 patients with active tuberculosis, residents of different regions of Tajikistan. Comparable groups by sex, age characteristics and geography of places of residence were quite representative. All observed healthy subjects were put a tuberculin sample intradermally with 2 TE of the drug "TUBERCULIN PPD" according to a standard procedure. The diagnosis of tuberculosis made based on clinical and radiological data, as well as the results of sputum microscopy and its study on the GeneXpertRIF apparatus. All observed persons (healthy and sick with tuberculosis) were subjected to biochemical blood tests and trophological status calculations using standard formulas. Results: A tuberculin sample showed that of the 390 observed persons, 260 (66.7%) had a negative response, while the remaining 130 (33.3%) had a different reaction to a different degree. The nutrition status only 17.7% of healthy individuals corresponded to the graduation of light undernourishment whereas among sick patients with tuberculosis the insufficiency of food revealed 77.0% of cases, including 43.5% – light, 27.0% – medium and in 6.5% – a serious degree. Examining of the presence of infection with MTB and malnutrition status among the survey revealed that of 69 people with mild malnutrition in 41 (10.5%), the results of the tuberculin sample were positive. Conclusion: Infection of MTB according to the tuberculin sample is detected in one third of adults used by the studied persons. Individuals with a combination of malnutrition and positive tuberculin test results are at risk for developing tuberculosis, and they should conduct a course of chemoprophylaxis and improve the quality of nutrition. The majority of tuberculosis patients showed malnutrition, which testifies the importance of this starting mechanism of transition from a latent to an active form of the disease.

Keywords

• nutrition index
• tuberculosis
• predictors
• biochemical blood test
• tuberculin sample.