Abstract: Objective  To understand the frequency and geographical distribution of people with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) symptoms in China.   Methods  According to the fifth National Tuberculosis Epidemiological Sampling Survey, questionnaire survey was adopted to screen the people with suspected PTB symptoms (cough, expectoration ≥2 weeks and/or hemoptysis) aged 15 and above nationwide (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions), the rates of people with suspected PTB symptoms in different population and areas were analyzed.   Results  The rate of people with suspected PTB symptoms in population aged 15 and above was 2.1% (5399/252 940). The rate in male was 2.8% (3324/116 939), higher than 1.5% (2075/136 001) of female (χ²=521.9, P<0.001). There was a significant statistic difference among the rate of different age groups (χ²=2356.6,P<0.001). People aged 65 and above was 2.976-3.335 times (OR=3.150，95%CI=2.976-3.335) more likely to develop suspected PTB symptoms than people aged 15 to 65. The rate in residence was 2.2% (5026/229 923), higher than 1.6% (373/23 017) of migrants (χ²=30.8, P<0.001). The rate in rural area was 2.5% (3488/138 057), higher than 1.7% (1911/114 883) of urban area (χ²=214.4, P<0.001). The rate in western, central and eastern regions were 3.6% (2522/69 896), 2.0% (1603/80 926) and 1.2% (1274/102 118) respectively, with significant statistic differences (χ²=1066.9, P<0.001). Significant statistic differences were also found among the rates in plain, hill, mountain and other areas (χ²=350.8, P<0.001).   Conclusion  Various measures should be taken to increase the case detection efficiency of people with suspected PTB symptoms in China.

Key words: Tuberculosis,pulmonary/epidemiology, Epidemiologic studies