臺灣地區的肺外結核

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is not an uncommon, but often neglected, disease in Taiwan. To understand the epidemiological situation of extrapulmonary TB in Taiwan, the central registration data in the National Tuberculosis Data Base from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 1995, were investigated. The results showed that there were 9,453 extrapulmonary TB cases in this 10-year period, accounted for 10.3% of totally registered TB cases. Annual rates of extrapulmonary TB patients in all TB patients remain constant during this period. The most frequently encountered extrapulmonary TB was pleura (72.1%), followed by lymph nodes (9.5%), osteoarticular systems (6.4%), and urinary and genital systems (3.8%). The age distribution of extrapulmonary TB patients is younger than that of pulmonary TB patients. However, extrapulmonary TB patients still often affected the middle-and-old age groups, except 60.6% lymphadenitis cases were younger than 35 years old and meningitis cases often affected young and old age groups. Male patients predominated except for lymph nodes and skin or eye involvement. However, except for the pleurisy, the proportions of female patients in extrapulmonary TB group are all higher than that of pulmonary TB group. To set up the detailed epidemiological data of extrapulmonary TB in Taiwan, propagating the information of national TB control program and using the resources of national healthcare to reinforce the reporting system can not be overemphasized。