OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiological characteristics and patterns of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis wounds in order to provide reliable data for further clinical research.

METHODSRecords of patients with extra-pulmonary tuberculosis wounds hospitalized from January 2010 to December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed, including gender, age, nationality, family background, Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination, primary lesion, and history of injury.

RESULTSTuberculosis wounds were found in 235 patients among 5 863 patients with extra-pulmonary tuberculosis, accounting for 4.0%. Among the patients with tuberculosis wounds, there were 139 male and 96 female, and the ratio of male to female was 1.4: 1.0. The age of patients ranged from 1 to 87 (37 +/- 18) years old, and the highest incidence occurred in patients older than 15 and younger than or equal to 30 years old (100 cases, accounting for 42.6%). Most patients with tuberculosis wounds were Han, and only 11 patients were minorities, accounting for 4.7%. Tuberculosis wounds were more prevalent in rural areas (163 cases, accounting for 69.4%), with a smaller number in urban areas (72 cases, accounting for 30.6%). The BCG vaccination rate was 13.6%. The main primary lesions were lymph node infection (112 cases, accounting for 47.7%), among which involvement of cervical lymph nodes accounted for the highest ratio ( 99 cases, accounting for 88.4%). Twenty-one patients had the traffic accident etc. injury history recently, among which 19 were male and 2 were female.

CONCLUSIONSTuberculosis wound, with certain incidence, was more frequently found among young adults from rural areas. The BCG vaccination rate was low among the patients and the main primary lesion was tuberculosis of cervical lymph nodes.