EVALUATION OF THE APPLICATIONS MADE TO TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL DISPENSARY BETWEEN THE YEARS 2010-2014 IN THE SOUTHWEST REGION OF TURKEY

Introduction: As a major public health problem in the world and our country, tuberculosis (TB) constitutes 25% of the mortali- ties in developing countries which can be prevented. Identification and effective treatment of TB patients in the community are impor- tant to control TB. In our country, the task of ensuring TB control was given to Tuberculosis Control Dispensaries (TCD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applications made to TCD Southwestern Turkey between the years of 2010-2014.

Materials and methods: The target population of the descriptive and retrospective study where TB surveillance data was analy- zed was constituted by 394 people who applied to Tuberculosis Control Dispensary in the Southwest region of Turkey between the years of 2010 and 2014.

Results: 66.2% of the applicants were male, 37.3% were in the 40-59 age group, 68.7% were married and 9.5% did not have any social insurance. Considering the reasons of application, 93.6% of the subjects applied personally and 6.4% applied with the con- tact history. New patients formed 78.0% of the cases, while 15.1% of the applicants were the ones who were transferred, 5.1% had recurrent disease, 1.0% were those who returned from discontinuation of the therapy and 0.8% were the patients who applied due to treatment failure. According to the records, 0.3% of the applicants were diagnosed with HIV, 9.6% used alcohol and 20.8% smoked. 66.9% of the patients had pulmonary involvement and 44.9% had contact with at least one person. Sputum examinations were perfor- med in 65.0% of the applicants and 55.1% were determined to be positive. 71.8% of the patients were determined to have radiological findings compatible with the disease. 45.9% of the patients were found positive as a result of the bacteriological smear. Treatments of 35.0% of the registered patients were started in TCD and the length of treatment period lasted 0-6 months. According to the results of treatment, 70.5% of the patients completed the treatment and 3.6% died. All patients were implemented directly observed treatment.

Conclusion: Dominant male gender among those who apply to TCD, being in 40-59 age group, applications due to personal reasons, new cases, pulmonary involvements, performing of sputum examinations, positive results, implementing the treatment in a hospital and completion of treatments are the most important results of the study. In conclusion, the first-line tuberculosis control takes an important place in the tuberculosis control in our country. For a successful TB control, Tuberculosis Control Dispensaries and Community and Family Health Centers must work coordinately.