Clinical and epidemiological evaluation of Tuberculosis in Albania during the period 2009-2018

Aim: To estimate the clinical and epidemiological pattern of Tuberculosis (TB) in Albania over the period 2009-2018. Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinical and epidemiological data based on TB individual notification forms during the period 2009-2018. Results: During the 10-years period, TB incidence increased from 14 to 15.5, but without a significant increasing trend. The total number of TB cases increased from 440 to 447. The proportion of extra-pulmonary TB decreased from 32% to 25% in 2018 (p=0.015), with and average mean change of 29 cases. Males prevail among TB cases and male-to-female ratio ranges from 2:1 to 3:1. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) was carried out depending on the availability of the reagents and there were 54%, 18% and 96% culture cases confirmed positive in 2009, 2014 and 2019, respectively. The overall treatment completion rate was 85% and 88.2% in 2009 and 2018, respectively. However, there was a significant drop in cured cases from 26% in 9.3%, whereas the percentage of deaths has increased from 0.5% in 4.1%. All treatment outcomes exhibited a significant change (p<0.001). Conclusion: TB continues to be a public health challenge in Albania regardless of the seemingly generally stable epidemiological situation.