Lethality analysis in patients with tuberculosis diagnosis in a high complexity hospital in Cali, Colombia

Abstract

Background. In 2016 tuberculosis (TB) was considered the ninth leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of a single infectious agent, with approximately 1.6 million deaths worldwide and a lethality of 15%. Over 95% of cases and deaths are in developing countries like Colombia. Aim: To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients who died during TB treatment in a high complexity hospital in Cali, Colombia. Methods: We conducted an analytic retrospective cohort during 2007-2016 in Fundación Valle del Lili. We included patients with TB diagnosis, who died during TB treatment. Results: From 787 patients with TB, 69 died (8.8%). Fifty nine percent were male, the average of age was 51.9 years. There was diagnosis delay in 51% of the patients and 74% presented pulmonary TB. Sixty four percent 64 died in the first 30 days of the TB diagnosis and 61% of the deaths were attributable to TB. Twenty five percent of patients had TB/HIV coinfection. Elderly patients (> 65 years old) were associated with death in the first 30 days of TB diagnosis (p < 0,001). Discussion: The lethality found in this study was higher than expected (8.8%), the majority of patients had serious comorbidities. Elderly patients were associated with early death. The main pathophysiological mechanism of death was septic shock caused by severe tuberculous pneumonia.