786 J.H. Lee, D.H. Han, J.W. Song, et al. Table 1. Population characteristics of the young and the elderly pulmonary tuberculosis patients Table 2. Presenting clinical symptoms and signs of the young and the elderly pulmonary tuberculosis patients Youn(gn=(<26057)yr, %) Elderly(n(=≥11695)yr, %) p value Youn(gn=(<26057)yr, %) Elderly(n(=≥11695)yr, %) p value Age (mean±SD*, yr) 40.5±14.8 Gender Male 143 (69.1) Female 64 (30.9) Initial Admission Diagnosis Tuberculosis 195 (94.2) Pneumonia 9 (4.3) Lung cancer 3 (1.4) Others 0 (0) Diagnostic Criteria of Tuberculosis Sputum AFB culture (+) 154 (74.4) Bronchial Washing Fluid 8 (3.9) AFB culture (+) Sputum AFB smear 6 (2.9) (+) only Histology 18 (8.7) Radiology and Clinical 21 (10.1) feature only *: Standard deviation. 74.8±6.2 61 (51.3) 58 (48.7) 79 (66.4) 25 (21.0) 14 (11.8) 1 (0.8) 84 (70.6) 7 (5.9) 6 (5.0) 9 (7.6) 13 (10.9) 0.001 <0.001 0.679 RESULTS Demographics Three hundred twenty six patients who satisfied the above- mentioned inclusion criteria comprised the study population. Of these patients, 27 were transferred to other hospital after an initial diagnostic workup, and 67 dropped out during fol- low-up. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of transfer rate to other hospital or follow-up loss. Final- ly 232 patients completed their anti-TB medication, adminis- tered over a minimum of 6 months at our hospital, thus drug adverse reactions and prognosis were analyzed using their data. The clinical characteristics, initial diagnosis, and diag- nostic criteria of pulmonary TB for the 326 subjects are shown in Table 1. Two hundred seven patients were allocated to the young age group and 119 to the elderly group. The mean ages of the young and elderly patients were 40.5 yr (range, 16-64 yr) and 74.8 yr (range, 65-85 yr). The young group showed a significant male predominance (p<0.001), and an initial diagnosis of active pulmonary TB was made correctly in 94.2% in the young group but in only 66.4% in the elder- ly group (p<0.001). Twenty-five of the 119 elderly groups were misdiagnosed as having bacterial pneumonia compared to 9 of the 207 young groups. Fourteen elderly patients but only 3 young patients were considered to have lung cancer initially. The diagnostic criteria of active pulmonary TB are presented in Table 1. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of positive sputum AFB culture. 80 (67.2) 46 (38.7) 17 (14.3) 5 (4.2) 39 (32.8) 4 (3.4) 60 (50.4) 43 (36.1) 47 (31.4) 16 (13.4) 2 (1.7) 53 (44.5) 6.2±6.1 30 (25.2) 13 (10.9) 18 (15.1) 12 (10.1) 2 (1.7) 2 (1.7) 1 (0.8) 65 (54.6) 0.093 0.002 <0.001 1.000 0.020 0.585 < 0.001 0.045 <0.001 <0.001 0.037 0.067 0.004 0.716 0.038 0.002 0.001 1.000 0.625 1.000 0.021 Respiratory symptoms Cough and/or sputum Dyspnea Hemoptysis Chest pain General Symptoms Febrile sense Night sweat Weakness Weight loss Anorexia Mental change No symptoms Body Temperature >37.5°C Symptom Duration (weeks) Diabetes mellitus Liver disease* Cardiovascular Chronic lung disease Renal disease Postgastrectomy Malignancy Total 157 (75.8) 46 (22.2) 68 (32.9) 10 (4.8) 95 (45.9) 11 (5.3) 51 (24.6) 53 (25.6) 39 (18.8) 1 (0.5) 15 (5.8) 114 (55.1) 4.3±4.7 56 (27.1) 41 (19.8) 10 (4.8) 3 (1.4) 3 (1.4) 2 (1.0) 1 (0.5) 85 (41.1) The data shown are for all cases. Table 3. Underlying diseases of the young and the elderly pul- monary tuberculosis patients Youn(gn=(<26057)yr, %) Elderly(n(=≥11695)yr, %) p value The data shown are for all cases. *: Viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, alco- holic liver diseases were included. : Hypertension, ischemic heart dis- ease, cerebrovascular accident were included. : Chronic obstructive lung disease, pneumoconiosis were included. Presenting symptoms The proportions of patients with different symptoms are compared in Table 2. The data shown represent all cases. Cough was the most frequent symptom in both the young and elder- ly groups, without significance. However, hemoptysis was more frequent in the young, and dyspnea more frequent in the elderly. Nonspecific general symptoms like weakness, weight loss, anorexia, and mental change were more frequent in the elderly. Though a febrile sense was more frequent in the young, no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of body temperature elevation. Fifteen of the 207 young patients were asymptomatic and present- ed only a chest radiographic abnormality compared to 2 of the 119 elderly (p=0.037). Symptom duration was signifi- cantly greater in the elderly.