Patients Hospitalised in Bolivia with Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Risk Factors for Dying

Setting: The adult tuberculosis ward of a public hospital in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Objectives: To identify risk factors for dying among adult patients hospitalised with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Design: Hospital-based cross-sectional study of patients admitted consecutively with pulmonary tuberculosis during the period November 1993-February 1996.

Results: A total of 466 patients were admitted to the study. There were 305 (65%) males, and the mean age was 33.1. Seventy-five patients (16%) died during hospitalisation. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified the following predicting variables for death: associated pathology (odds ratio [OR] 2.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48-5.36), female sex (OR 2.08; 95%CI 1.23-3.52), and number of lobes affected (OR 1.48; 95%CI 1.23-1.79).

Conclusions: These three variables predicting death allow us to identify patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis who should have priority for receiving hospital care. In Bolivia, physicians faced with a shortage of hospital beds should determine the presence or absence of this group of variables when evaluating patients for possible admission.