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Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 13, Number 6

Malnutrition and socio-demographic factors associated with pulmonary tuberculosis in Timor and Rote Islands, Indonesia

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OBJECTIVE: To identify nutritional and socio-demographic factors for the development of tuberculosis (TB) in Timor and Rote Island, Indonesia, so that intervention programmes can be developed to address these factors.

METHODS: In a case-control study, we enrolled new sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB patients as cases, and neighbours matched for sex and age as controls. Data obtained included history of TB, socio-demographic factors and nutritional status.

RESULTS: In the study, 121 TB patients and 371 controls participated. The mean age was 30 years: 56.3% were male and 43.7% female. Of the TB patients, 87% had malnutrition compared to 33% among controls. The mean body mass index (BMI) of the patients was significantly lower than that of the controls (16.1 ± 2.3 kg/m2 vs. 19.4 ± 3.0 kg/m2). Factors associated with the development of TB were BMI (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.4–0.6), family history of TB (OR 3.2, 95%CI 1.6–6.4), living in an extended family (OR 2.7, 95%CI 1.5–4.8), being non-indigenous to Timor and Rote Islands (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.2–6.8) and being unemployed (OR 3.8, 95%CI 1.7–8.6).

CONCLUSION: Among patients with active pulmonary TB, the prevalence of malnutrition was very high. Malnutrition, which is a general problem for the whole community and particularly among people not indigenous to Timor and Rote, should be addressed in the fight against TB.

Keywords: malnutrition; socio-demographic factors; tuberculosis

Document Type: Regular Paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Community Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; Regional Centre for Community Nutrition (RCCN), South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine (TROPMED) Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia 2: Regional Centre for Community Nutrition (RCCN), South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine (TROPMED) Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia 3: Department of General Internal Medicine, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 4: Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Public Health, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Publication date: 01 June 2009

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