Clinical features of patients and controls at recruitment
| Heart failure | Pleural TB | Probable pleural TB | Carcinoma | |
| Patients n | 6 | 49 | 9 | 10 |
| Age yrs | 68.5±6.8 | 35.1±2.7* | 32.7±4.4* | 65.8±5.0 |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 20.4±2.2 | 22.7±0.6 | 21.8±1.30 | 23.40±1.95 |
| Pyrexia | 16.7 | 65.3# | 88.9# | 50.0 |
| Weight loss | 50.0 | 81.6 | 77.8 | 90.0# |
| Night sweats | 33.3 | 49.0 | 33.3 | 20.0 |
| Dyspnoea | 83.3 | 88.9 | 83.7 | 100.0 |
| Pleuritic pain | 33.3 | 83.7# | 100# | 70.0 |
| Cough | 66.7 | 69.4 | 55.5 | 70.0 |
| Haemoptysis | 0 | 4.08 | 0 | 10.0 |
| Positive PPD test | 33.3 | 83.8#,¶ | 57.1 | 25.0 |
Data are presented as mean±sem or % of patients, unless otherwise stated. TB: tuberculosis; BMI: body mass index; PPD: purified protein derivative. *: p<0.05 compared with heart failure and carcinoma groups (ANOVA); #: p<0.05 compared with heart failure group (Fisher’s exact test); ¶: p<0.05 compared with carcinoma group (Fisher’s exact test).