Abstract

Concurrent pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (PTB/EPTB) is associated with poor treatment outcomes,
however the prevalence of this disease in Jinja remains unknown. The goal of this study was to find out the
prevalence and risk factors for concurrent PTB and EPTB among patients at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital's
(JRRH) tuberculosis (TB) treatment center. The research was conducted at JRRH's TB unit in Uganda. I reviewed
charts for persons with tuberculosis who were enrolled in care between January 2017 and November 2022. People
with pulmonary bacteriologically proven TB who were enrolled in care during the trial period were eligible for
eligible charts. PTB with bacteriological, histological, and/or radiological signs of TB at another non-contiguous
location was described as concurrent PTB and EPTB. 119 patient charts were eligible, of whom 71 (60.0%) were
aged 15 – 34 years and 61 (51.3%) were female. The frequency of concomitant PTB and EPTB was 7.6% (9/119).
People who had both PTB and EPTB had at least one comorbidity (82.4% vs 37.2%), with HIV being the most
common. Furthermore, persons who had PTB and EPTB at the same time had a higher mortality rate (26.5% vs
6.37%) and a poorer cure rate (41.2% vs 64.8%). These findings underline the need of early identification of
tuberculosis before it spreads, particularly among patients living with HIV.