From Dec. 2016 to June 2017, relying on the “Baseline survey on household catastrophic health expenditure due to TB in China”, a multi stage stratified cluster sampling was used to extract 251 tuberculosis patients at the designated hospital of tuberculosis from Yizhou District, Artux city, High-tech Zone, Yining County, Zapp County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Through face-to-face questionnaire survey and export of data from the hospital electronic medical records database, the social classics of patients were collected. A total of 251 questionnaires were sent out and 251 valid questionnaires were collected. Descriptive analysis was made on the demographic characteristics, expenses and disastrous expenses of the patients.

The median (quartile(Q₁, Q₃)) of the total cost of patients in five counties was 3949.4 (1648.6,10721.9), the direct medical cost was 1416.4 (440.0,5063.3) yuan, the direct non-medical cost was 640.6 (358.2,1336.0) yuan, and the indirect cost was 495.7 (81.4,2696.2) yuan. The direct medical expenses of the patients in the five counties accounted for 46.3% (4298.5/9291.7) of the total cost of self-payment, and the indirect cost accounted for 37.2% (1539.3/9291.7) of the total cost of self-payment. The proportion of catastrophic expenditure in five counties was 59.8% (150/251). The proportion of catastrophic expenditure in Yizhou, ITU, Hi-tech, Yining and Zip counties were 60.8% (31/51), 74.0% (37/50), 56.0% (28/50), 50.0% (25/50), 58.0% (29/50), respectively. and there was no significant difference between five counties (χ ²=6.58,P=0.16). The proportion of catastrophic expenditure was 80.6% (29/36) and 56.3% (121/215) in patients with hospitalized history and no hospitalization history, respectively. The proportion of catastrophic expenditure in the two groups was significantly different (χ ²=7.56,P=0.006). The rate of catastrophic expenditure for workers and farmers and herdsmen was 66.7% (102/153), and the proportion of catastrophic expenditure for household chores, retirees and students was 49.0% (48/98), and the proportion of catastrophic expenditure in these two types of patients was significantly different (χ ²=7.77, P=0.005). The proportion of catastrophic expenditure for illiterate or semi illiterate patients and non-illiterate patients was 77.5% (31/40) and 56.4% (119/211) respectively. The difference in the proportion of catastrophic expenditure in the two types of patients was significant (χ ²=6.23, P=0.013).

The direct medical and indirect costs of tuberculosis patients in the five counties are high, resulting in TB patients (and their households) catastrophic expenditure.