Abstract

INTRODUCTION Tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial disease which is caused by mycobacterium and in most cases by mycobacterium tuberculosis. Chest radiography is one of the most basic diagnostic tools in the initial evaluation of the patient for further evaluation and progression of the disease. Hence, this study was performed to investigate the effect of grade smear on the involvement of different lung zones in chest radiography of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis referred to the Zabol tuberculosis center. METHODS A descriptive-analytical study was conducted on all patients with pulmonary tuberculosis referred to the Zabol tuberculosis center in 2020, except patients with immunodeficiency - hepatitis and diabetes. Patients with smear grading who did not have chest radiography were excluded. RESULTS The frequency of women in patients with grade 1, 2 and 3 were 73.3, 50 and 70.6, respectively, and the frequency of men in grade 1, 2 and 3 were 25.7, 5096 and 29.4, respectively. There was a significant difference between these two groups. Gender did not show significant difference in terms of smear grade (p=0.192). The frequency of right or left lung involvement or both lungs in patients with grade 1, 2 and 3 was not statistically significant (p =0.306). CONCLUSIONS It seems that there is no relationship between the smear grade and the involvement of different zones in the graph.