OBJECTIVE: To assess cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in a Drug Abuse Treatment Facility in the City of São Paulo, Brazil. Methods. Case-finding of pulmonary tuberculosis was carried out in a purposeful sample of 160 alcoholics and drug abuse patients. A closed clinical/epidemiological questionnaire was used to register the results of bacteriologic sputum smear and radiology exams. RESULTS: Of the total of 57 patients with respiratory symptoms, 67% underwent bacteriologic exams and no cases of pulmonary tuberculosis with positive bacteriologic exams were identified. Nine alcoholic patients with a previous history of tuberculosis presented a typical radiological aspect of apical shadows. A complementary study was conducted to identify the features of the facility and of its users in order to explain the results observed in the case-finding. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the features of the facility and patients, we concluded that there was an external bias in patient selection, in which pulmonary tuberculosis cases confirmed by bacteriology were being diagnosed and treated in other health care facilities, mainly hospitals. Finally we discussed the case-finding methodology used in face of the specificity of the object researched and previous knowledge on case-finding of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Pulmonary tuberculosis; Epidemiology; Alcohol and drug-abuse; Case-finding
