International Journal of Medical and Health Research

Authors
M Umakanth

Abstract
Introduction: Anemia is well-known complication of Tuberculosis (TB).The prevalence of anemia among TB patients varied in each study. There are number of causes for anemia in TB cases. However, two major causes postulated the anemia, one is anemia due to inflammation (AI) which is mainly due to TB itself it does not respond with iron therapy and anemia due to iron deficiency anemia (IDA), it will respond with iron therapy. Methodology: This was a record-based descriptive study was conducted in chest clinic in teaching hospital Batticaloa in Sri Lanka. All TB patients were screened for anemia. A pre-tested questionnaire was prepared and data were collected from the patient’s records. Results: Finally 99 patients were enrolled in our study. Among the 99 TB cases, 65 patients (65.7%) were male and 34(34.3%) were female. In this study, all most all 65(100%) male TB cases were fallen under category of anemia, while 28(82.3%) female were diagnosed as anemia. The majority of TB patients 62(62.4%) were unemployed, which were more common among female. Conclusion: In light of this evidence, protocol for identify and treat anemia in TB patients should be re-evaluated. Biochemical measures more specific to iron deficiency, such as ferritin or soluble transferrin receptor, should be considered in future studies