Radiographic evaluation of lateral chest wall soft-tissue thickness in adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Zaria, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) has high morbidity and mortality. It kills an estimated 2-3 million people a year with 95-98% of this mortality in developing countries. Nigeria ranks 4 th among 22 high burden countries in the world. It is associated with marked weight loss which can be evident at the lateral chest wall soft tissue thickness on the chest radiographs. Objectives: To compare the lateral chest wall soft tissue thickness on the chest radiographs of normal adult subjects and pulmonary TB patients in Zaria, also to determine sex difference in the lateral chest wall thickness in aforementioned subjects. Methodology: This prospective study was conducted over a six month period at the Radiology Department of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. Two hundred adults who were bacteriologically proven to have pulmonary tuberculosis were consecutively recruited into the study as cases. The same number of age and sex matched healthy individuals that had chest radiograph grossly normal were recruited as controls. Their lateral chest wall soft tissue thickness (subcutaneous fat and muscle layers) on the chest radiographs was measured. Results: A total of 400 patients, aged 18 to 70 years. Average age was 39.12 ± 11.89years.They were 135 (62.5%) females and 65 (37.5%) males The mean and standard deviation obtained for pre-treated PTB patients and control group were 12.66 ± 2.63 mm and 19.37 ± 2.65 mm respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). However, no significant increase is noted in lateral soft tissue thickness among different sexes. Conclusion: The lateral soft tissue thickness (muscle and fat) was generally lower in PTB patients compared to the healthy individuals.