Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Ardabil City from 2005 to 2010

Tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis that occurs in pulmonary formin 85% of cases. Epidemiologic study of disease has an important role on evaluation of disease control strategies and trend of health indicators. The aim of this study was to investigate epidemiology of tuberculosis incidence rate in Ardabil city. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on all TB cases that were detected and recorded by Ardabil District Health Center from 2005 to 2010. Data were collected from patients'' records using a questionnaire and analyzed through descriptive and analytical statistics methods using SPSS software. Mean age of the 297 patients was 44 years (SD=18. 1 years). 49. 1% of cases were male and the remaining being female. 83% of patients lived in urban and the remaining in rural areas. Average total incidence of TB in Ardabil city was 8. 54 per 100،000 population during the period of time studied. From all TB cases، 56. 2% and 43. 8% were in the form of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary، respectively. The most common organ involved was lymph nodes accounting for 25. 4% of the extra pulmonary cases. More attention should be paid on early detection and treatment of smear positive TB patients. Considering low age of TB cases، it is necessary to evaluate barriers for implementing control and treatment measures as well as to provide health education to this age group.