Objective  To understand the epidemiological characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in the elderly population registered in Inner Mongolia autonomous region from 2016 to 2020 and provide evidence for the prevention and control of pulmonary TB in the elderly population in Inner Mongolia.

  Methods  The information of pulmonary TB patients in the elderly population registered in Inner Mongolia from 2016 to 2020, including gender, age, occupation, source of patients, initial treatment and retreatment , were collected from “The Infectious Disease Surveillance System”, and the prevalence of pulmonary TB in the elderly was analyzed with software SPSS.

  Results  From 2016 to 2020, a total of 15000 elderly patients with pulmonary TB were registered in Inner Mongolia, the average annual registration rate was 111.2/100000 (15000/13 491 000 ), which was significantly higher than the rate of 33.0/100000 (36934/111 782 000 ) in people under the age of 65 years (χ²=17740.4, P<0.001). Among the elderly patients with pulmonary TB, there were 9038 men and 5962 women. The ratio of male to female was 1.5∶1, which was lower than the ratio of 2.2∶1 in the population under 65 years old. The pulmonary TB patients in the elderly were mainly distributed in farmers, accounting for 67.8%, followed by house workers, the unemployed or jobless, accounting for 13.9%. The pulmonary TB cases in the elderly were mainly detected in medical care seeking due to symptoms, accounting for 34.0%, followed by followed up (31.1%). For initial treatment and retreatment, the initial treatment accounted for 89.2% and the retreatment accounted for 10.8%.

  Conclusion  From 2018 to 2020, the registration rate of pulmonary TB cases in the elderly population in Inner Mongolia showed a downward trend, and the annual registration of elderly patients with pulmonary TB was higher than that in whole population. It is necessary to take targeted t measures in prevention and control of pulmonary TB in elderly population.