Search

Background: Today, tuberculosis continues as an important cause of death in Korea despite the effective treatment and prevention. So we have studied charicteristic distribution of death by pulmonary tuberculosis through epidemiologic survey. Subjects and Method: The mortality data were obtained from 684 pulmonary tuberculosis cases who died in a tuberculosis-centered hospital in Seoul during the period of 5 years from 1986 to 1990. In order to estimate the distribution of death by tuberculosis, t-test and -text were performed on the data. Results: 1) 19.9% of patients died among the total 3,441 hospitalized pulmonary tuberculosis cases during 5 years. 2) In distribution of sex and age, male death occupies 81% of total death. Significantly high proportions of younger female death (under 40 years-old) were also observed. 3) In terms of medical security status, medical assistance group occupies 42.3% of medical insurance group while the non-security group also occupies 11.8% of total death. 4) Treatment interruption was observed in 78% of total death. Conclusion: Special attention should be given to the identification, management and follow up of high risk group in nationwide tuberculosis control program.