Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis among Health Care Workers in High Burden Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
<h4>Background</h4>Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Twenty-two high burden countries contributed to the majority of worldwide tuberculosis cases in 2015. Health care workers are at high risk of acquiring tuberculosis through occupational exposure.<h4>Ob...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164034 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | <h4>Background</h4>Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Twenty-two high burden countries contributed to the majority of worldwide tuberculosis cases in 2015. Health care workers are at high risk of acquiring tuberculosis through occupational exposure.<h4>Objective</h4>To estimate the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among health care workers in high burden countries.<h4>Methods</h4>Databases including MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), CINAHL (Ovid) and ISI Web of Science (Thompson-Reuters), and grey literature were searched for English language records on relevant medical subject headings (MeSH) terms of LTBI and health care providers. Literature was systematically reviewed using EPPI-Reviewer4 software. Prevalence and incidence of LTBI and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Pooled prevalence of LTBI and 95% CI were calculated using random-effects meta-analysis models and heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. Sub-group analysis was conducted to assess the cause of heterogeneity.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 990 records were identified. Of those, 18 studies from only 7 high burden countries representing 10,078 subjects were included. Tuberculin skin test results were available for 9,545 participants. The pooled prevalence of LTBI was 47% (95% CI 34% to 60%, I2 = 99.6%). In subgroup analyses according to the country of the study, the pooled prevalence of LTBI was lowest in Brazil (37%) and highest in South Africa (64%). The pooled prevalence of LTBI among medical and nursing students was 26% (95% CI 6% to 46%, I2 = 99.3%) while the prevalence among all types of health care workers was 57% (95% CI 44% to 70%, I2 = 99.1%). Incidence of LTBI was available for health care workers in four countries. The cumulative incidence ranged from 2.8% in Brazilian medical students to 38% among all types of health care workers in South Africa.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The findings of this study suggest that there is a high burden of LTBI among health care workers in high burden countries. Adequate infection control measures are warranted to prevent and control transmission in health care settings. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |