Tuberculosis in a Metropolitan Area of Northern Italy: Epidemiological Trends and Public Health Concerns

considering demographic-epidemiological data, significant differences were found among the 62 Italian patients, and the 28 subjects coming from countries outside Western Europe (50% from northern Africa). When compared with foreigners, Italian patients had a greater median age (51.7 vs. 29.9 years; p < 0.001), and more frequent and varied underlying disorders (prior diagnosis or familial history of tuberculosis, chronic pulmonary, heart, liver, or kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, malignancies, collagen vascular disease, bowel inflammatory diseases, and other chronic illnesses) (p < 0.05), a higher incidence of HIV/AIDS (31.1% of Italian cases) (p < 0.001), with