Epidemiology of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Serai Naurang, Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, during 2015-2018

Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is one of the deadliest diseases worldwide and is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A retrospective study was carried out to determine the prevalence and seasonality of PTB among the suspected tuberculosis patients diagnosed at Tehsil Head Quarter Hospital Serai Naurang, District Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, during April 2015 to March 2018. Out of 2467 registered and suspected cases of PTB, 239 (9.69%) were positive cases. As a whole, the disease was highly prevalent in females (60.67%) compared with males (39.33%) in the study period. The age group 15-30 (years) had the highest percentage disease (37.24), followed by the age groups 46-60 (19.67), more than 60 (18.41), 31-45 (17.16), and 5-14 (7.11). While there found no patient of PTB less than 5 years during the study period. As a whole, 92.47% of the positive cases were at least 15 years of age. Annual variations occurred among the number of suspected patients as well as PTB-positive cases, and both were correlated. The monthly/seasonal occurrence of the disease showed that the late summer season (September) had the highest number of positive cases, 43 (17.99%); however, July (hot summer) and November (autumn) had the lowest number of positive cases, 13 (5.44%), each of the total positive cases. Data pooled over for the study period showed that females had a higher rate of disease than males in 10 out of 12 months of the year.