Gender difference in clinical presentation of Turkish patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

The study was aimed to investigate the diagnostic differences between male and female patients in pulmonary tuberculosis in a tertiary 660 bedded Educational Respiratory Medicine Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. A retrospective study was conducted with the new diagnosed, 50 men and 50 female pulmonary tuberculous patients. Age, symptoms, personal history, radiologic and sputum smear findings were collected from their files. 44 male and 42 female patients were enrolled to the study. Male patients tended to be older, smoke more, get alcohol more, lose weight more and have sputum smear positivity more than the female patients. Neither the time of diagnosis nor the radiologic appearance differed statistically. The radiologic appearance, not the clinic symptoms, help to diagnose tuberculosis in female patients; especially in those with no weight loss and sputum smear negativity.