Files containing data of patients with tuberculosis, diagnosed and/or treated in a School Health Center in the City of S. Paulo, were maintained for 10 years and then were incinerated. A retrospective and descriptive study was conducted, focusing on the preservation of that historical documentation and the evaluation of the activities of the Tuberculosis Control Program during the period from 1989 to 1999. The information contained in the medical archive files was processed into a database utilizing the EPI-INFO Program that analyzed the profile of the patients and the results of treatment, so as to support this and other studies. 590 patients with tuberculosis were treated. There was an annual decrease in the number of tuberculosis patients. Most were men (58.0%), single (46.8%), between 30 and 49 years of age (45.6%) and lived in the neighborhood of the Health Center (48.1%). The pulmonary form was the most frequent (74.4%) and baciloscopy was performed for 375 patients (86.3%) with 71.7% of positive results. 72.4% of patients were discharged because they were cured and, 12.4% by default. The conclusion is that the quality of information should be improved; a specific computer program should be implemented for the care of patients and treatment follow-up; case finding should also be improved, at least for the clients of this service. Moreover, treatment should be supervised in order to decrease the high level observed of default.
Tuberculosis; Medical records; Health centers; Evaluation studies
