Age and sex distribution in malignant and tuberculous serous effusions: A study of 127 patients and review of the literature

AimTuberculosis and carcinomatosis are the two most frequent causes of pleural effusion and exudative ascites, and both are characterized by lymphocyte-rich effusion. We attempted to discover if there is any significant difference in the age and sex distribution between patients presenting with these two conditions. MethodsA total of 161 serous effusion samples from 127 patients (89 with pleural effusion and 38 with ascites) having follow-up biopsy and histopathological examination were included in the present study. Three groups - malignancy (47 patients), tuberculosis (47) and non-tuberculous benign lesions (26) as per histopathological diagnoses - were compared in respect to age and sex distribution. ResultsA total of 29 (61.7%) patients with malignancy were aged 50years as compared with three (6.4%) tuberculosis patients with serous effusions (P=0.00000). A similar trend was observed in the 60years age group (18 or 38.3% malignancy vs none with tuberculosis, P=0.00000). A total of 36 (76.6%) tuberculous effusion patients were aged less than 40years as opposed to eight (17.0%) patients with malignant effusions (P=0.00000). There was also s significant difference between tuberculous and non-tuberculous benign lesions in the 50years age group (6.4% vs 69.2%, P=0.00000), but no significant difference between malignancy and non-tuberculous benign lesions (P=0.61385). There were 31 female (66.0%) patients with malignancy, which was significantly higher than that of patients with tuberculosis (16, [34%], P=0.00365) and non-specific inflammation/benign lesions (23.1%, P=0.00059). However, the difference between tuberculosis and non-tuberculous benign lesions was not significant (P=0.42756). ConclusionWhereas malignancy in serous effusions is found in older and middle-aged people, tuberculous effusion is a disease of younger people. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; 15: 1143-1150.