Socio-Demographic Factors Affecting the Prevalence of Tuberculosis in Iran

Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important causes of infection worldwide, especially in low income countries. Socio-demographic disparities are obvious in prevalence of this disease. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was designed and new cases of smear positive TB were included to determine the incidence and relapse rate, with access to health records of TB patients in a provincial health center in south of Iran. Results: In our study, new cases of smear positive TB were observed in foreigners than Iranians (68.9 vs. 8%) and so was the relapse rate (14.5 vs. 0.5%). Incidence rate was higher in men compared with women (11.2 vs. 7.4%), and so was the rate in urban dwellers (11.6%) compared with rural population (7.2%). New cases were seen in 24.6% of people aged over 50 years and relapse rate was 1.8% in this age group. We conclude that relapse of smear positive TB and incidence of new cases is more prevalent in immigrants, and above the age of 50 years. Conclusion: It is suggested that the Iranian National Health Policy should be guided by these socio-demographic factors while designing and implementing programs aimed at controlling TB transmission. Although the DOTS system is precisely followed up, there are some pitfalls in managing urban patients.