A cross sectional study of dietary practices and nutritional status of tuberculosis patients

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis which often affect the lungs, although it can spread to other organs in the body. TB is the second deadliest disease worldwide caused by a single infectious agent Objective: evaluate the nutritional status of active TB patients in a tertiary care medical college hospital in Chennai. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from August 2022-September 2022 among active Tuberculosis patients in a tertiary care medical college hospital in Chennai who had tested positive by sputum microscopy and are under treatment. Sample size was calculated to be 105. Participants were selected by simple random sampling. Sampling was done by simple random sampling of the study population. Data on clinical and demographic characteristics and dietary intake was collected using questionnaire. Results: Mean age of the participants was 34, 04 years. The energy intake of most (62, 9 %) of the participants was found to be less than the RDA levels for Tuberculosis patients. Inadequate calorie consumption was found to be significantly associated with the presence of complications of tuberculosis after adjusting for age and gender with an odds ratio of 3, 24 (95 % CI, 1, 45-6, 74). Conclusion: Inadequate calorie intake was significantly associated with presence of complications of tuberculosis. Proper nutritional counseling along with nutritional support should be given to severely malnourished TB patients, and nutritional assessment of TB patients should be done periodically.

Keywords

• dietary practices
• nutrition
• tuberculosis patients