Clinical features of octogenarian patients with tuberculosis at a tertiary hospital in South Korea

Abstract

Objective The growth of the older population is a great challenge for tuberculosis (TB) control in South Korea. This study was performed to investigate the clinical characteristics of and treatment outcomes among octogenarian patients with TB. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 109 patients with TB (age of ≥80 years) from January 2014 to March 2017. Clinical, microbiologic, and radiologic findings were obtained. Results Fifty-five patients (50.5%) were male, the mean age of the patients was 83.8 years, and 75 patients (68.8%) had pulmonary TB. All patients with pulmonary TB underwent either chest X-ray or chest computed tomography examination, and the results showed that only one-third (n = 33, 39.3%) had active lesions suggestive of TB. Twenty-nine patients (26.4%) had an unfavorable outcome (21 died and 8 were lost to follow-up). Only two TB-related deaths occurred, and both were caused by respiratory failure. Among the 15 non-TB-related deaths, the progression of malignancy and sepsis were the most frequent causes of death. Conclusions A high mortality rate was observed in octogenarian patients with TB, and most of these deaths were non-TB-related. Among all causes of mortality, solid malignancy was a significant risk factor for death.