1993 Volume 68 Issue 7 Pages 487-493
We studied 2247 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who were hospitalized for the initial course of chemotherapy under the provision of the revised Tuberculosis Prevention Law issued by Japanese Ministry of Welfare. The results were as follows.
1) There were more males than females with a ratio of 2.6: 1.
2) There were two peaks in their ages, 20s and 60s.
3) The average admission periods were 5.2 ±2.7 months for men and 5.1± 2.8 months 4) The average compulsory admission periods were 6.8±2.5 months for men and 6.4±2.3 months for women, so that the actual admission periods were shorter in the majority of the patients.
5) The sputum cultures were converted negative in three months in about 80 percent of the patients who were smear and/or culture positive on admission.
6) The appearance rate of INH-resistant and RFP-resistant strains were 2% and 1.4%
7) Most of the death from tuberculosis was observed in the early stages of admission.
8) With regards to the cost, there seemed to be no difference whether treated under the new or the old provisions.
9) The newly approved extension of the admission periods for those who had complications such as diabetes mellitus or pneumoconiosis and those who had INH and/or RFP positive bacilli seemed to be appropriate respectively.for women.
