[Tuberculosis in the elderly].

Recently, the proportion of the elderly in the newly registered TB patients has increased. Not only the relative increase, but the newly registered TB patients older than 70 years is leveling off, and the number of smear positive TB patients among the elderly is obviously on the increase. The rapid aging of the population and the blunting of the decreasing speed of the TB patients percentage in the elderly may be accountable for the increase in the elderly TB patients. Elderly TB patients often have complications. Particularly noticeable is the high percentage of complications by cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumor, central nervous diseases and digestive tract diseases. However, the proportion of complications by diabetes was higher in the non-elderly persons (younger than 64 years). The frequency of pyrazinamide being used was extremely low in the elderly, particularly in the late cases of the elderly. In elderly TB patients, there were many cases of death and moving out, and the clinical results were poor. Of the female elderly TB patients, many were the late cases of the elderly and cases of moving out after discharge. Of the male elderly TB patients, there were many cases of death, which was conspicuous particularly in the late cases of the elderly. As the measures to counter the elderly TB patients who continue to increase in number, mention can be made of the early discovery of elderly TB patient, measures to prevent the development of TB in the elderly and support to hospital treatment of elderly TB patients. In the future, taking measures is needed so that the development of TB in the elderly be suppressed and that TB treatment of the elderly be carried out smoothly.