Association Between Socioeconomic Factors And Tuberculosis Infection Among Diabetic Patients Attending JM Kariuki County Referral Hospital, Nyandarua County, Kenya

Abstract

Approximately 1.2 million individuals die of TB-associated health complications annually. Diabetes coexistence with TB accelerates TB disease, complicates treatment, hence aggregating the possibility of poor TB outcome. Methods: The study was carried out at JM Kariuki County Referral Hospital, Nyandarua County, Kenya. A sample size of 139 study participants was used for the study. Data was collected through carrying out diagnostics tests which included: Fluorescent TB smear microscopy, Gene-Xpert test, Chest X-ray, blood sugar test and face to face interviews which was recorded in a structured interviewer checklist and the clinical data uploaded in various ministry of health laboratory tools. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data. Results: TB infection and age was found to be statistically significant (p=0.001). Study subject’s occupation and TB infection was statistically significant (p=0.003). There was no significant difference between gender and diabetes mellitus (p=0.613). The study showed significant difference between smoking and alcoholism and TB infection (p=0.001). Conclusion: There is a need to implement active TB case finding programs in diabetes management initiatives in Nyandarua and countrywide.