Pulmonary Tuberculous Lesions: An Autopsy Study in Central Kerala, India

A total of 311 subjects were included in the study, of which 244 were male (78%), and the mean age was 51.32 (±15.9) years. The most frequent cause of autopsy was road traffic accidents, followed by death due to hanging. The proportion of pathologically active TB was estimated to be 2.89% (95%CI: 1.53%-5.41%). Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) testing was done for a subset of 51 specimens, in which <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> was detected in only one case (1.96% (95%CI: 0.05%-10.45%)). Factors associated with the detection of lesions of TB were smoking, alcohol use, and prior history of TB.