Aspects of monitoring a cohort of adult homeless people suffering from tuberculosis compared to the general population of Bucharest

Abstract

In the case of homeless adults (HA), there are high rates of TB- a public health issue in Romania- due to poor living conditions and to those conditions favouring the development of the disease. The aim of this study is to compare the cases reported with chemosensitive/ monoresistant TB, in 2013 at HA with those occurred in the general adult population (GAP), in terms of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and to evaluate the direct costs provided to such persons from both cohorts. Data were collected from the National Tuberculosis Programme. Have been taken into account the costs directly determined strictly for detection, monitoring and treatment of patients with TB, comparing the mean values for the 2 groups. The results showed that most patients are young men, representing new pulmonary TB cases, with associated conditions (HIV, drug addiction) and that there are significant statistical differences in terms of average costs determined per HA patient, due to the extended length of stay in their case. Most of the cases are pulmonary that can transmit the disease. The average length of stay in the case of HA is about 3.0 times higher than in GAP cases.