Abstract

VAN DER PLAS, Helen  and  MENDELSON, Marc. High prevalence of comorbidity and need for up-referral among inpatients at a district-level hospital with specialist tuberculosis services in South Africa: the need for specialist support. SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. [online]. 2011, vol.101, n.8, pp.529-532. ISSN 2078-5135.

OBJECTIVES: To define the patient population at Cape Town's district-level hospital offering specialist tuberculosis (TB) services, concerning the noted increase in complex, sick HIV-TB co-infected patients requiring increased levels of care. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of all hospitalised adult patients in Brooklyn Chest Hospital (a district-level hospital offering specialist TB services) from 27 to 30 October 2008. Outcome measures were: type of TB and drug sensitivity, HIV co-infection, comorbidity, Karnofsky performance score, and frequency and reason for referral to other health care facilities. RESULTS: More than two-thirds of patients in the acute wards were HIV-co-infected, of whom 98% had significant comorbidities and 60% had a Karnofsky performance score <30. Twenty-eight per cent of patients did not have a confirmed diagnosis of TB. In contrast, long-stay patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR), pre-extensively (pre-XDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB had a lower prevalence of HIV co-infection, but manifested high rates of comorbidity. Overall, one-fifth of patients required up-referral to higher levels of care. CONCLUSIONS: District-level hospitals such as Brooklyn Chest Hospital that offer specialist TB services share the increasing burden of complex, sick, largely HIV-co-infected TB patients with their secondary and tertiary level counterparts. To support these hospitals effectively, outreach, skills transfer through training, and improved radiology resources are required to optimise patient care.

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