TY - JOUR T1 - Tuberculosis (TB) in homeless population in Poland JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1436 AU - Izabela Siemion-Szczesniak AU - Maria Korzeniewska-Kosela AU - Jan Kus Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1436.abstract N2 - Background: Homelessness is recognized as risk factor associated with TB and non adherence to treatment.Objective: Comparison of TB features in homeless and non homeless patients in Poland.Methods: Data of 75921 cases with TB registered in the national Central TB Register from 2002 to 2013 were analyzed. Chi-squared test was used to assess statistical significance (SS).Results: There were 2388 cases of TB in homeless. Mean age of homeless was 49.7 (±10.9 yrs), and non homeless 52.8 (±17.5) yrs, which was a SS difference (p< 0.0001). There were more males than females in group of homeless (4.2% vs 0.9%). Culture positive TB occurred more frequently in homeless cases than non homeless (75.9% vs. 62.2%, p<0.0001) as well as smear positive TB (54.4% vs. 39.0%, p<0.0001). Solely extrapulmonary TB was more common in non homeless patients that in homeless (7.4% vs. 1.9%, p<0.0001). Relapses were more common in homeless (16.6% vs. 10.4%, p<0.0001). Resistance to isoniazid or rifampicin and MDR-TB occurred more frequently in non homeless group (3.1% vs 2.9%, 0.2% vs 0.0% and 0.8% vs 0.4%) respectively but the difference was not significant. Treatment success rate among homeless group was 44.2% and among non homeless 66.9%, p< 0.0001. Defaulters comprised 24.7% of homeless and 8.8% of non homeless group, p< 0.0001.Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that homelessness is strongly associated with pulmonary and infectious TB, poor treatment outcomes including high default rate and high rate of relapse in TB in patients in Poland. Special attention should be put to the direct observation of treatment in these patients. Extrapulmonary TB predominates in non homeless. ER -