Prevalence of tuberculosis and respiratory diseases among health care workers in a tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu

Introduction: Health care workers are occupationally vulnerable to many infectious diseases and accidents. Amongst the several infections, respiratory illnesses are more common, and also are responsible for sickness absenteeism and transmission of infections to patients. This study was done to estimate the prevalence of respiratory illnesses among nurses in a tertiary hospital. Methodology: The study was done on 514 nurses in the tertiary care hospital. All the nursing students were included in the study. A physical examination was done and all of them were evaluated for respiratory and cardiac illnesses by Mass Miniature Radiography. Results: It was observed that the overall prevalence of respiratory illnesses in this study was 7.6%. The prevalence of tuberculosis was 0.194%. This study also effectively evaluated the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension and cardiomegaly among the study participants. Conclusion: The prevalence of respiratory illnesses is a serious public health problem. The preventive measures must be aimed at sensitization, screening during pre-placement examination, and periodic evaluation. Non pharmacological and non invasive preventive strategies must be used as a mandatory method of preventing this occupational hazard.