Abstract:

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of screening suspicious symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and TB examination for the elderly relying on public health services. Methods: The retrospective survey method was used to collect the relevant information of the elderly aged 65 and above from July to December 2020 in three counties (cities) of Henan Province and three counties (cities) of Hubei Province at the implementation site of the project of “TB active screening among the elderly relying on primary medical and health institutions”, including basic information, physical examination or follow-up, symptom screening, referral and diagnosis of suspicious symptoms of PTB, and analysis of the effect of active screening strategy for PTB. Results: A total of 349842 people aged 65 and above in the above areas were included, of which 324598 were screened for suspicious symptoms of PTB, 321383 had valid screening records, and the actual screening rate was 91.87% (321383/349842). A total of 1466 cases of suspected symptoms of PTB were screened out, of which 1290 cases went to medical institutions for PTB examination. The examination rate of symptomatic PTB was 87.99% (1290/1466). Fifty-four active PTB patients were diagnosed, of which 53 had suspicious symptoms, and one had no symptoms related to PTB. The detection rate of PTB was 16.80/100000 (54/321383). In 2020, a total of 547 cases of PTB patients aged 65 years and above were found in 6 counties (cities), of which 54 cases were found through grass-roots active symptom screening. The implementation of active symptom screening strategy increased the number of elderly PTB patients by 10.95% (54/(547-54)). Conclusion: It is feasible and effective to carry out active PTB screening among the elderly by relying on primary medical and health institutions.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary, Aged, Health services research, Games, experimental, Retrospective studies