A Study on Relationship Between Anthracosis and Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Background & Objective:  Anthracosis is a bronchoscopic finding characterized by the presence of black pigments in the bronchial mucosa. In this study we examined the relationship between anthracosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in a sample size much larger than previous studies in order to alleviate the ambiguities and controversy surrounding this issue.  Materials & Methods:  This cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2010 to October 2016 on patients referred to the hospital for bronchoscopy due to any respiratory problem. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was sampled during bronchoscopy and the smears and cultures of tuberculosis mycobacterium acquired from the samples were examined. Results:  In this study, 2377 patients were studied. The patients aged between 30 and 96 years, and of all patients, 1397 individuals were male. The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among patients with and without anthracosis was 9.24 and 3.07, respectively (P<0.001). The frequency ratio of females with anthracosis in comparison with males with anthracosis showed that the prevalence of this disease among females is higher than in males (P<0.001). Conclusion:  Pulmonary tuberculosis and anthracosis are related to each other and there is a direct relationship between the prevalence of pulmonary anthracosis and age and the female sex.