A. Alquorain et al., PATTERN OF PLEURAL EFFUSION IN EASTERN PROVINCE OF SAUDI-ARABIA - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY, East African medical journal, 71(4), 1994, pp. 246-249
In order to establish the clinical pattern and aetiology of pleural ef
fusion in adults in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, all patients
aged 18 years and above presenting with clinical and radiological evi
dence of pleural effusion, between 1st December 1987 and 30th November
1991, at three participating hospitals, were prospectively studied. O
f the 201 (145 male, and 56 female) patients recruited, 102 (51%) were
Saudis; their mean age was 43.4 +/- 17.8 years. Pleural effusion was
more common on the right side (56%) than the left (32%). In rank order
, the most common diagnoses were tuberculosis (37%), neoplasm (18%), p
arapneumonia (14%), and congestive cardiac failure (14%). There were a
variety of other causes. The aetiology was indeterminate in only 3 (1
.5%) patients. Patients with tuberculosis (75 patients) were relativel
y young (mean age 33.4 years) and 50 (67%) of them were expatriates, m
ainly from the Indian subcontinent and Yemen. Of the diagnostic proced
ures, the most useful were histological examination and culture of ple
ural biopsy. The contribution of culture and cytology of pleural fluid
to diagnosis was rather small. It is concluded that the clinical patt
ern and aetiology of pleural effusion observed in this study are simil
ar to those of the developing countries, although they seem to have be
en influenced by the large migrant labour force in the country.