Abstract: 【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cutaneous tuberculosis （CTB）, to analyze the relationship between skin lesion sites and adjacent organ tuberculosis, and to provide a theoretical basis for the effective control of CTB. Methods Demographic data, clinical characteristics and accessory examination findings were retrospectively collected from CTB patients admitted to the Department of Tuberculosis, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University from January 2011 to December 2018. Analysis was carried out on the incidence of CTB among patients of different ages and genders, the relationship between skin lesion sites and other organ tuberculosis, and the positive rates of etiological and histopathological examinations. Results A total of 118 patients with CTB were included, accounting for 1.03%（118/11 460） of all tuberculosis patients, and 65 were confirmedly diagnosed with CTB. Among the 65 confirmed CTB patients, CTB mostly occurred in teenagers aged 14 - 25 years （15/65，23.1%）, the male-to-female ratio was 1.32∶1 （37∶28）, and the proportion of females was highest in the age group of 26 - 35 years （6/10）; skin lesions mainly occurred on the chest （29/65, 44.6%）, abdomen （13/65, 20.0%）, and limbs （10/65, 15.4%）, and mainly manifested as localized masses （41/65, 63.1%）, skin ulceration （16/65, 24.6%）, and skin itching （2/65, 3.1%）; 53 patients were clinically diagnosed with CTB, and there was a significant difference in the lesional sites between the patients diagnosed with confirmed CTB and those clinically diagnosed with CTB （χ2 = 13.42, P = 0.026）, while there were no significant differences in gender and age distribution, skin manifestations, or other tuberculosis comorbidities （all P > 0.05）. Among the 118 patients with CTB, 2 （1.7%） presented with a solitary skin lesion, while 116（98.3%） were accompanied by pulmonary tuberculosis and/or extrapulmonary tuberculosis in other organs; among patients with other tuberculosis, those with pulmonary tuberculosis, digestive tuberculosis, superficial lymph node tuberculosis and with spinal tuberculosis showed relatively high proportions of patients with adjacent CTB, which were 45.6% （52/114）, 34.6% （9/26）, 50.0% （8/16） and 62.5% （10/16） respectively, with the concurrent CTB lesions located on the chest, abdomen, head, face and neck, and waist and back respectively; the positive rate of pulmonary etiological examination was 32.2%（38/118）, and the overall rifampin-resistance rate was 7.1%（2/28）; the positive rates of skin etiological examination, skin histopathological examination and immunological examination were 48.7% （19/39）, 52.6%（10/19） and 75.9% （41/54）, respectively. Conclusion The proportion of CTB patients was relatively low among all tuberculosis cases; CTB was more common in male teenagers, and the proportion of females was highest in the age group of 26 - 35 years; CTB lesions were polymorphic and mainly occurred on the chest, abdomen and extremities; there was a certain correlation between CTB and adjacent organ tuberculosis.

Key words: Tuberculosis, cutaneous, Epidemiology, Age distribution, Sex distribution, Clinical characteristics, Microbial sensitivity tests, Diagnosis