Epidemiological behavior of tuberculosis. Colombia, 2019

Abstract

Introduction: tuberculosis is a public health problem due to its morbimortality worldwide, in the Region of the Americas and in Colombia. Due to its causal context, this disease requires an interinstitutional analysis and an analysis of the social determinants that will allow the generation of effective interventions for its control.

Objective: to describe the epidemiological behavior of tuberculosis in Colombia in 2019.

Materials y methods: retrospective descriptive study. The source of information is the tuberculosis notification to the National Public Health Surveillance System - Sivigila. The data were processed in Excel. Univariate analysis was performed with measures of absolute frequency, average and rates and by department of residence. In accordance with Resolution 08430 of 1993, this study did not represent a risk.

Results: in the trend from 2013 to 2019, the incidence rate of tuberculosis showed an increasing variation comparing the year 2013 with 24,46 cases per 100 000 population and the year 2019 with 27,7 cases per 100 000 population. The highest proportion (64,7 %) of cases corresponds to the male sex and the most affected age group is 25 to 34 years old with 21,8 %. The pulmonary form accounts for the highest percentage (83,3 %) of cases. The most frequent comorbidities were malnutrition (14,4 %), TB-HIV coinfection (11,9 %) and diabetes (8,0 %).

Conclusion: the increase in tuberculosis may be associated with the strengthening of bacteriological detection of cases and the implementation of the Colombia Toward the End of Tuberculosis Strategic Plan (articulation of program, laboratory and surveillance).