A CLINICAL STUDY ON TUBERCULOSIS AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN JAPAN: ANALYSIS ON PATIENTS ADMITTED TO NATIONAL HOSPITALS IN KANTO AND KINKI-AREAS IN THE YEAR 2000

: Considering the high social activity, the trend of tuberculosis among young adults appears to be one of the key factors that influence the future morbidity rate of tuberculosis in Japan. To investigate its current characteristics, we analyzed new cases of tuberculosis aged 20 to 29 who were admitted to 7 national hospitals in Kanto- and Kinki-areas during the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2000. Data on the following items were compiled: sex, age, body height and weight, nationality; background factors such as life style, complications; course of the disease before the diagnosis; result of PPD skin test; severity of the disease estimated by the amount of M. tuberculosis in sputum and the grade of chest X-ray findings; therapeutic regimens and the response rate. Data were collected from 234 patients (129 males and 105 females) and the results were as follows: 1) about 80% of the patients were symptomatic and in 50% of patients who presented with cough, more than one month was needed before establishing the diagnosis as TB, 2) the disease was found in advanced stage in more than half of the patients, 3) foreigner patients, most of them were from Kanto-area, accounted for 11%, and were in advanced stage, some with drug-resistant tuberculosis, 4) INH resistance was noted in 7.7%, 5) pyrazinamide was included in the therapeutic regimens in 84.0% of the smear positive patients, 6) the admission period was within 90 days in 63.7% of the patients, however, the duration of treatment was 6 months in only 48.0% of patients who were treated with regimens containing pyrazinamide. More efforts for early detection of patients is needed to prevent the transmission of the disease, and more extensive use of directly observed therapy is essential for the prevention of dropout. We also argued about the shortening of the admission and duration of treatment in these patients.