Epidemiological Profile of Tuberculosis and Investigation of Some Risk Factors in the Province of Larache, Morocco (2000-2012)

Aim: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a topical health issue all over the world. The present work aims to bring out the epidemiological profile of TB and to investigate some risk factors associated with this pathology in the province of Larache, Morocco.

Methodology: It consists in a retrospective study based on 7671 cases of tuberculosis, all forms combined, reported to the Centre for Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Diseases of Larache during a period of 13 years from January 2000 to December 2012.

Results: The results showed that pulmonary tuberculosis represents two thirds of all cases (58%), Pleural TB comes second and Ganglionic TB comes third with 18% and 12% respectively. Moreover, 45% of patients completed their treatment and 34% are cured (smear negative). We reported 89 cases of death during the period of study. The evolution of the annual rate of success knew a remarkable increase from 95.6% in 2000 to 98.4% in 2012.

On the other hand, we demonstrated that death occurs preferentially in older patients (55.9 ±19.7 years old). Ganglionic and cerebral TB occur preferentially in younger patients (26.6 ± 17.7 years old) whereas urogenital and pericardial TB occur in older patients especially (45.7 ± 18.8 years old).

As for localization, we found that patients suffering from pulmonary TB display a significantly higher risk of death compared to other patients (RR = 1.58; CI95%= 1.01 - 2.467). In contrast, the risk of death is significantly lower in patients with ganglionic TB (RR= 0.08; CI95%= 0.01- 0.56).

Furthermore, females present a significantly higher risk to contract ganglionic, peritoneo-intestinal and pericardial TB compared to males. In contrast, the risk of contracting pulmonary TB is almost two times higher in males compared to females.

Conclusion: In conclusion, much effort should be made to fight against tuberculosis in Morocco.