Pulmonary Function Impairment and Its Associated Factors Among Patients Treated for Pulmonary Tuberculosis at Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Tuberculosis (TB) affects around 10 million people annually. A variety of complications can occur among patients treated for pulmonary tuberculosis impaired pulmonary function being one. Countries with large prevalence of tuberculosis can contribute significantly to this burden. However there is shortage of information on the magnitude and factors of pulmonary function impairment in Ethiopia, which potentially put individuals affected to be approached sub-optimally Objective: To assess pulmonary function impairment and its associated factors among patients treated for pulmonary tuberculosis visiting Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital (TGSH), Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Method: A Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to November 30, 2023, at chest referral clinic in TGSH. 216 post TB cases who visited TGSH chest referral clinic were included with consecutive sampling method. A well-designed questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and clinical information of study participants by trained healthcare professional. Pulmonary function test by Spirometry was performed for all post TB cases in accordance with the recommendations of the American thoracic society/European respiratory society (ATS/ERS). Data was entered into Epi info version 7.2.6.0 and analyzed using SPSS statistics version 27 software. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the association between variables. Results: In this study from the total of 216 study participants, 124 (57.4%) were males and the mean age was 42.3±13.7. The prevalence of spirometric pulmonary function impairment was 171 (79.2%) of these, 81 (37.5%) had obstructive, 48 (22.2%) had restrictive type of impairment and 42 (19.4%) had mixed pattern of lung function impairment. On multivariate analysis factors which are identified to be associated with pulmonary function impairment are living in rural area [AOR 4.47; 95%CI (1.14 – 18.26)], presence of respiratory symptoms [AOR 7.59; 95 %CI (1.58 – 36.47)], and longer duration of symptoms before treatment (>1 month) [AOR 55.28; 95%CI (13.84 – 220.8)]. Conclusion and recommendations: This study made evident that the prevalence of pulmonary function impairment is very high indicating pulmonary function assessment is important to identify the type of Spirometric abnormality and guide the subsequent management as well as risk factor modification. Keywords: Post pulmonary tuberculosis, pulmonary function impairment, TGSH, Ethiopia