Abstract: Objective  To describe and analyze the socio-economic status of active tuberculosis patients detected in the fifth National Tuberculosis Epidemiological Sampling Survey.   Methods  1301 cases out of 1310 active TB patients detected in the fifth National Tuberculosis Epidemiological Sampling Survey were interviewed face-to-face by the trained professionals with structured questionnaire including the socio-economic status and medical expenses.   Results  Among 1301 cases, 32.3% (420/1301) cases were illiterates or semiliterates, 59.2% (770/1301) were farmers, 15.4% (201/1301) had no occupation, 48.8% (635/1301) were 60 years old or above and more than 70% were distributed in the middle-western region (965/1301) or in rural areas (928/1301). 82.8% (1070/1293) cases had the annual family income per capita which were below the local average. 50.8% (555/1092) had the personal income which were accounted for half of the total household income or above. For medical expenses during the diagnosis period, it was 360 yuan (median) for new cases, among whom 74.2% (161/217) paid the total medical expenses by themselves, and 16.9% (36/213) were in catastrophic expenditures. During the same period, it was 790 yuan (median) for known cases, among whom 62.5% (80/128) paid the total medical expenses by themselves, and 19.5% (26/133) were in catastrophic expenditures. Due to illness during the diagnosis period, 21.1% (130/617) were in the loss of working time and the loss of income was 16.6-18.2 yuan per day.   Conclusion  Pulmonary tuberculosis cases have low socio-economic status and are special populations with fragile economy. Suffering from tuberculosis poses adouble whammy for the family with both the sources of income reduction and high medical expenses. It is recommended that the government should improve TB patients’ care and subsidies, and  expand free items for diagnosis appropriately.

Key words: Tuberculosis,pulmonary/economics, Socioeconomic factors, Fees,medical