Aetiology and clinical profile of spontaneous pneumothorax in adults.

BACKGROUND Limited information is available on epidemiology of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) from India. The present study was aimed at studying aetiology and clinical profile of patients with SP. METHODS All patients admitted at a tertiary care hospital with the diagnosis of SP between January 2001 and March 2002 were prospectively studied. Detailed demographic and clinical data were recorded. Patients were divided into two groups-primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP), if no underlying aetiology for pneumothorax was found, and secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP), when an underlying respiratory disorder could be identified. The clinical features were compared between the two groups. RESULTS Sixty patients (12 with PSP and 48 with SSP) were included in the study. Annual incidence of SP was calculated as 99.9 per 100,000 hospital admissions. Annual incidence figures for PSP and SSP were 20.0 and 80.0 per 100,000 hospital admissions respectively. Age distribution showed a biphasic pattern and the overall male to female ratio was 5 : 1. The most common cause of SSP was found to be pulmonary tuberculosis (41.7%). CONCLUSIONS Pneumothorax is more common among men. In India, SSP is far more common than PSP, and the predominant underlying cause is pulmonary tuberculosis.