Tuberculosis in geriatric patients: a cross-sectional study from tertiary care hospital in Maharashtra

Background- By the year 2031, an anticipated 194 million Indian population will be aged 60 years or above. They are more prone to various infections due to lowered immunity and Tuberculosis (TB) is one of them. The use of various diagnostic methods for TB needs to be investigated in the geriatric population. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 st January 2022 to 31 st December 2022. All TB patients of 60 years and above were enrolled. Their sputum samples were subjected to CBNAAT and positive samples were tested by LPA for detection of isoniazid resistance and resistance to second-line drugs. Results: In our study, most positive cases were from the age group of 60-65 years (50.82%). Infected males were 65.57% and females were 34.43%. M. CBNAAT detected tuberculosis in 18.43%. 90.16% were rifampicin sensitive, and resistant were 8.20%. By LPA, isoniazid monoresistant was seen in 4.92%, rifampicin monoresistant in 1.64%. Conclusion : As per our study, geriatric patients in the age group of 60-65 years were mainly positive for tuberculosis. This age group though immunocompromised but still active can spread the infection in the community. So, this age group should be closely observed in the mission of NTEP.