[A study of the psychological and social factors in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the mental health and social support in patients with tuberculosis.

METHODS

Questionnaires were performed in 132 patients with tuberculosis and 71 healthy volunteers using Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS). Statistical analyses were processed using Student's t test and ANOVA test.

RESULTS

Somatization, obsessive-compulsiveness, anxiety, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation, psychotism and the mean of positive factors of SCL-90 of the tuberculosis group (1.77 +/- 0.51, 1.63 +/- 0.50, 1.53 +/- 0.51, 1.33 +/- 0.41, 1.40 +/- 0.45, 1.41 +/- 0.40 and 36.07 +/- 20.84, respectively) were significantly higher than those of the control group (1.30 +/- 0.49, 1.43 +/- 0.49, 1.38 +/- 0.65, 1.24 +/- 0.48, 1.49 +/- 0.69, 1.30 +/- 0.44 and 24.92 +/- 18.22, respectively) (all P < 0.01). The result of symptom self-check differed among patients with different educational levels. The SSRS results of subjective and objective supports and total score of social supports of the tuberculosis group were 6.90 +/- 2.81, 19.25 +/- 5.62 and 32.96 +/- 7.86, respectively, much lower than those of the control group (7.92 +/- 2.57, 21.54 +/- 5.82 and 36.51 +/- 9.01, respectively) (all P < 0.01). Subjective support of patients with smear positive tuberculosis was much lower than that of patients with smear negative disease (18.15 +/- 5.72 vs. 20.75 +/- 5.78, P < 0.05); Subjective support, objective support and total score of social support of the unmarried patients (17.19 +/- 4.20, 6.17 +/- 2.18, 30.35 +/- 5.96, respectively) were lower than those of the married (20.72 +/- 5.96, 7.66 +/- 3.03, 35.19 +/- 8.74, respectively) (all P < 0.01). The results of SCL-90 and SSRS had no statistical relationship.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the disordered mental conditions and lower social support in patients with tuberculosis need psychosocial interventions in addition to medical care.