Open AccessThe Role of Cigarette Smoking and Alcohol Consumption in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Development and Recurrence
Author(s) -
Marina Lampalo,
Irena Jukić,
Jasna Bingulac-Popović,
Hana Safić Stanić,
Blaženka Barišić,
Sanja PopovićGrle
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acta clinica croatica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.274
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1333-9451
pISSN - 0353-9466
DOI - 10.20471/acc.2019.58.04.04
Subject(s) - medicine , tuberculosis , urogenital tuberculosis , tuberculous pericarditis , risk factor , diabetes mellitus , tuberculous meningitis , disease , mycobacterium tuberculosis , gastroenterology , surgery , pericarditis , pathology , endocrinology
During a two-year period (2001-2003), 464 patients were treated for tuberculosis at Jordanovac Department for Lung Diseases in Croatia. Besides pulmonary tuberculosis in 97.7% of patients, patients were also treated for tuberculous pleurisy (0.9%), tuberculous laryngitis (0.6%), tuberculous meningitis (0.2%), tuberculous pericarditis (0.2%) and urogenital tuberculosis (0.4%). Out of the total number of patients, 57.3% declared themselves to be active smokers (men were predominant and made up to 80.8%) and 20.9% to be active alcohol consumers. Both risk factors, i.e. smoking and alcohol consumption, were present in 15.1% of all patients. The most common comorbidities were diabetes mellitus (30.4%), cardiac diseases (11.2%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (8.0%). Lung carcinoma was the most common malignant disease (n=51), with Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in 33% of them. Seventy-two of 464 (15.5%) patients had recurrences of tuberculosis. Of these, 30.5% had one of the risk factors (20.8% were smokers and 9.7% consumed alcohol), while 32.5% of patients had both risk factors. In conclusion, cigarette smoking was proved to be the most significant risk factor for development of pulmonary tuberculosis and its recurrence.