BACKGROUND: Sputum Smear Positive(SSP) Pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) is the infectious form of TB and is associated with reversible peripheral blood abnormalities.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the hematological and serum ferritin profile and its association with delayed sputum conversion (DSC).

METHODS: The prospective study was conducted among 200 newly diagnosed smear positive pulmonary TB patients at DOTS centre, Najafgarh, New Delhi between 2015–16. Hemoglobin and serum ferritin were measured at the start and the end of Intensive Phase (IP). Data was entered in MS–Excel. Multi–variate logististic regression was applied using Predictive Analytics SoftWare.

RESULTS: The prevalence of DSC was 21.5%. In multi–variate logistic regression, it was found that odds of delayed sputum conversion were significantly higher if the TB patients had anemia at the end of IP.

CONCLUSIONS: Not only the drug therapy, but a multi–pronged strategy can help in prevention and control of tuberculosis infection.