Hematological manifestations in patients newly diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis

Objective: To determine the frequency of various hematological manifestations among newly diagnosed cases of pulmonary tuberculosis on complete blood counts.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 newly diagnosed patients of pulmonary tuberculosis in hematology department of Nishtar Medical University from 1st November 2020 to 30th April 2021 using consecutive sampling. Detailed history and complete general physical examination findings, complete blood picture including erythrocyte sedimentation rate were retrieved from hospital electronic medical records system. Data was collected on a specially designed Proforma, entered into SPSS version 23.0 and analyzed. Data is presented as mean±SD and frequency and percentages for numerical and categorical variables respectively using tables and figures.

Results: In this study the mean age of patients was 34.36 ± 6.41 years with male to female ratio 2.52: 1. Frequency of anemia was 82.6% (n=413), leukocytosis was 46.2% (n=231) and leucopenia in 102 patients (20.4%). Thrombocytosis was detected in 131(26.2%) patients. Raised ESR was observed in 495(99%) of the patients. No association of age and gender was observed with hematological manifestations. However, thrombocytosis was significantly more common in male patients (p-value = 0. 008).

Conclusion: Hematological parameters like high Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and anemia were commonly detected in newly diagnosed patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Thrombocytosis was seen more commonly in male patients of pulmonary tuberculosis.