ABSTRACT
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that mainly affects people in developing countries. It is affected by nutritional status. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and the effect of associated sociodemographic and clinical variables on the nutritional status among adult TB patients. Methodology: A convenient sample of 100 newly diagnosed adult Tuberculous patients whether pulmonary or extrapulmonary who attended the General Tuberculosis Institute in Baghdad governorate from October 2022 to January 2023 was taken. Their nutritional status was measured by BMI. Result: Out of the total patients included in the study, (53%) were males and (47%) were females. More than half of patients had a normal BMI (55%), while 19% had undernutrition which is mainly seen in the pulmonary type, and 26% were overweight and obese which is seen in the extrapulmonary type. High educational level, high socioeconomic status, eating frequent meals (>3/day), not having anemia, and not having significant weight loss appear to be protective against malnutrition in tuberculous patients. Conclusion: Tuberculosis and malnutrition with dual effects so every TB patient needs a baseline nutritional assessment prior to the start of treatment. Also important to improve nutritional knowledge by counseling on a balanced diet and increasing awareness about the risk factors of undernutrition and its consequences for tuberculous patients and their family members
