PREVALENCE OF TUBERCULOSIS AND ITS ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AMONG PATIENTS VISITING BISHOFTU HOSPITAL, OR MIYA REGION, SOUTH EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Tuberculosis is a deadly infectious disease, affecting millions of people worldwide. Ethiopia ranks seventh among the twenty two high tuberculosis burden countries .The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and its associated risk factors among patients visiting Bishoftu Hospital in Oromiya Region. A retrospective study based on ten years data of TB patients (from year 2006-2015) and a cross-sectional survey study on the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary TB patients among TB suspect patients visiting Bishoftu Hospital was conducted from June-August 2016. 384 tuberculosis suspects were successively taken from the Out Patient Department of the Hospital. From these suspects, sputum samples were collected and subsequently examined for acid fast bacilli using ZiehlNeelsen staining technique. Pre-tested questionnaire was also used to determine the associated risk factors of TB infection among the study subjects. The data were entered and analyzed using STAT version 11soft ware. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify risk factors associated with pulmonary tuberculosis. The study revealed that the current prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis was 8.3 %. The trend of all forms of TB started to decline starting from 2009 onwards in both sexes and all age groups. The study also showed poor diet, HIV/AIDS, previous TB contact history, living in confiding place, alcohol consumption, chat chewing and smoking cigarettes were significantly associated with prevalence of smear positive TB cases. Generally, in this study, the high prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis in the area suggested the need for implementing strict pulmonary tuberculosis screening of patients and intensification of health education to prevent the spread of the disease and to create awareness on risk factors contributing to the infection, respectively. In addition, routine checkup of TB among TB suspects is important to minimize the burden of the disease and to control the transmission rate in the area.