Research Article
Age and Sex Differences in Sputum Smear Microscopy Results for Acid Fast Bacilli in a Tertiary Care Centre, South India
Table 1
Distribution of age, gender, and grading of smears among examinees (
).
| | Characteristics | New (diagnostic smears)
| Follow-up smears
|
| | Gender | | | | Male | 5194 (63.3) | 588 (74.4) | | Female | 3016 (36.7) | 202 (25.6) | | Age groups (years) | | | | 14–24 | 992 (12.1) | 137 (17.3) | | 25–34 | 1258 (15.3) | 70 (8.9) | | 35–44 | 1550 (18.9) | 248 (31.4) | | 45–54 | 1640 (20.0) | 196 (24.8) | | 55–64 | 1484 (18.1) | 68 (8.6) | | 65 and above | 1210 (14.7) | 64 (8.1) | | Age not recorded | 76 (0.9) | 7 (0.9) | | Smear status | | | | Smear positive | 1147 (14.0) | 115 (14.6) | | Smear negative | 7063 (86.0) | 675 (85.4) | | Smear positivity | | | | Scanty | 131 (11.4) | 34 (29.6) | | 1+ | 299 (26.1) | 46 (40.0) | | 2+ | 334 (29.1) | 23 (20.0) | | 3+ | 383 (33.4) | 12 (10.4) | | Grading of smears | | | | Low grade positivity | 430 (37.5) | 80 (69.6) | | High grade positivity | 717 (62.5) | 35 (30.4) |
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