Clinical and therapeutic characterization of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Cali

Objective: To ascertain clinical, socio-demographic and pharmacological characteristics of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis Methodology: This is a descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 157 patients. Data were extracted from the Secretaría Municipal de Salud database of the city of Cali during 2013. The association between the variables was established by the chi-squared test with the statistical package SPSS Vs 22.0 Results: 62.4% of the patients under study were young men and 72% of low socio-economic conditions.9.2% of patients developed drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (p = 0.0231). Resistance to isoniazid was 94.2%; to rifampicin, 78.8%; to pyrazinamide, 21.2%; to ethambutol, 25%; to streptomycin, 48.1%. Malnourished patients and drug/alcohol addicts were more resistant to antituberculosis therapy. Drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis and with addiction to psychoactive substances or alcohol patients were 19.2%, with diabetes accounted for 15.4%, and those co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 13.4%. Conclusions: The higher proportion of males with tuberculosis might be influenced by an exposure to the infective agent, since this group is the most working population. A higher prevalence of strains that are multidrug-resistant to first-line drugs was found in patients from low socioeconomic levels, belonging to marginalized groups, and with risk factors, such as malnutrition, and alcohol/psychoactive substances abuse.