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. 2019 Jan 9;14(1):e0209650.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209650. eCollection 2019.

Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis: A retrospective study of patients in Accra, Ghana

Sally-Ann Ohene  1 , Mirjam I Bakker  2 , John Ojo  3 , Ardon Toonstra  2 , Doris Awudi  4 , Paul Klatser  5
Affiliations

Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis: A retrospective study of patients in Accra, Ghana

Sally-Ann Ohene et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Information on extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) patients is limited in many African countries including Ghana. The study objective was to describe the epidemiology of EPTB patients diagnosed from different categories of health facilities in Accra, Ghana compared to pulmonary TB (PTB) patients and identify risk factors for mortality among EPTB patients.

Method: We conducted retrospective analyses of demographic and clinical data accessed from medical records of EPTB and PTB patients from different types of health facilities from June 2010 to December 2013. Factors at diagnosis associated with EPTB compared to pulmonary TB (PTB) and factors associated with treatment outcome death among EPTB patients were assessed using logistic regression.

Results: Out of 3,342 new TB patients ≥15 years diagnosed, 728 (21.8%) had EPTB with a male: female ratio of 1.17. The EPTB sites commonly affected were disseminated 32.8%, pleura 21%, spine 13%, and Central Nervous System (CNS) 11%. Treatment success rate for EPTB was 70.1% compared to 84.2% for PTB (p<0.001). In logistic regression, HIV positivity (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 3.19; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.69-3.79) and female gender (aOR 1.59; 95% CI 1.35-1.88) were found to be significantly associated with EPTB compared with PTB. Older age, being HIV positive (aOR 3.15; 95% CI 1.20-8.25) and having CNS TB (aOR 3.88; 95% CI 1.14-13.23) were associated with mortality among EPTB patients. While more EPTB patients were diagnosed in the tertiary hospital, health facility type was not associated with mortality.

Conclusion: EPTB patients in Accra have a worse treatment outcome compared to PTB patients with mortality of EPTB being associated with HIV, older age and CNS TB. Being HIV positive and female gender were found to be significantly associated with EPTB. Increased awareness of these factors may facilitate early case finding and better management outcomes for these patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Distribution of 646 extrapulmonary patients by infection site and gender in Accra, 2010–2013.
The figure shows the distribution of EPTB across various sites for males and females. A significantly higher proportion of males had pleural TB while a significantly higher proportion of females had CNS TB compared to males.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Age distribution of PTB and EPTB by gender among TB patients in Accra, 2010 to 2013.
PTB: pulmonary TB EPTB: extrapulmonary TB.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis report 2015. 2015. http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/gtbr15_main_text.pdf
    1. World Health Organization. Ghana Tuberculosis Profile. 2017. https://extranet.who.int/sree/Reports?op=Replet&name=/WHO_HQ_Reports/G2/...
    1. World Health Organization. Tuberculosis (TB) Data provided by countries and territories. 2017. http://www.who.int/tb/country/data/download/en/
    1. Ghana Health Service/Ministry of Health. The National Tuberculosis Health Sector Strategic Plan for Ghana 2015–2020. Accra, Ghana. https://www.medbox.org/the-national-tuberculosis-health-sector-strategic...

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