by
Julie A. Womack;
Terrence E. Murphy;
Harini Bathulapalli;
Kathleen M. Akgun;
Cynthia Gibert;
Ken M. Kunisaki;
David Rimland;
Maria Rodriguez-Barradas;
H. Klar Yaggi;
Amy C. Justice;
Nancy S. Redeker
SETTING: Although diabetes mellitus (DM) is an established risk factor for active tuberculosis (TB) disease, little is known about the association between pre-DM, DM, and latent tuberculous infection (LTBI).
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between DM and LTBI. DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study among recently arrived refugees seen at a health clinic in Atlanta, GA, USA, between 2013 and 2014. Patients were screened for DM using glycosylated-hemoglobin (HbA1c), and for LTBI using the QuantiFERONw-TB (QFT) test. HbA1c and QFT results, demographic information, and medical history were abstracted from patient charts.
RESULTS: Among 702 included patients, 681 (97.0%) had HbA1c and QFT results. Overall, 54 (7.8%) patients had DM and 235 (33.8%) had pre-DM. LTBI was prevalent in 31.3% of the refugees. LTBI prevalence was significantly higher (P < 0.01) among patients with DM (43.4%) and pre-DM (39.1%) than in those without DM (25.9%). Refugees with DM (adjusted OR [aOR] 2.3, 95%CI 1.2-4.5) and pre-DM (aOR 1.7, 95%CI 1.1-2.4) were more likely to have LTBI than those without DM.
CONCLUSION: Refugees with DM or pre-DM from high TB burden countries were more likely to have LTBI than those without DM. Dysglycemia may impair the immune defenses involved in preventing Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
by
Qu Cheng;
Robert Trangucci;
Kristin Nelson;
Wenjiang Fu;
Philip A. Collender;
Jennifer R. Head;
Christopher M. Hoover;
Nicholas K. Skaff;
Ting Li;
Yue You;
Liqun Fang;
Song Liang;
Changhong Yang;
Jin'ge He;
Justin V. Zelner;
Justin Remais
Global food security is a major driver of population health, and food system collapse may have complex and long-lasting effects on health outcomes. We examined the effect of prenatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine (1958–1962)—the largest famine in human history—on pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) across consecutive generations in a major center of ongoing transmission in China. We analyzed >1 million PTB cases diagnosed between 2005 and 2018 in Sichuan Province using age–period–cohort analysis and mixed-effects metaregression to estimate the effect of the famine on PTB risk in the directly affected birth cohort (F1) and their likely offspring (F2). The analysis was repeated on certain sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) to explore potential mechanisms of the intergenerational effects.
A substantial burden of active PTB in the exposed F1 cohort and their offspring was attributable to the Great Chinese Famine, with more than 12,000 famine-attributable active PTB cases (>1.23% of all cases reported between 2005 and 2018). An interquartile range increase in famine intensity resulted in a 6.53% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19–12.14%) increase in the ratio of observed to expected incidence rate (incidence rate ratio, IRR) in the absence of famine in F1, and an 8.32% (95% CI: 0.59–16.6%) increase in F2 IRR. Increased risk of STBBI was also observed in F2. Prenatal and early-life exposure to malnutrition may increase the risk of active PTB in the exposed generation and their offspring, with the intergenerational effect potentially due to both within-household transmission and increases in host susceptibility.
SETTING:
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment facility, Orel Oblast, Russian Federation. OBJECTIVES: To determine factors associated with poor outcome and to document status of patients after recording of TB outcomes.
DESIGN:
Retrospective review of prospective single cohort.
RESULTS:
Among 192 patients, factors significantly associated with poor outcome in multivariate analysis include three or more treatment interruptions during the intensive phase of therapy and alcohol or drug addiction (adjusted OR [aOR] 2.1, 95%CI 1.0-4.3 and aOR 1.9, 95%CI 1.0-3.7). Previous treatment was associated with poor outcome, but only among smear-positive patients (aOR 3.1, 95%CI 1.3-7.3). Ten patients (5%) developed extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) during treatment; of 115 patients with at least 6 months of follow-up data after outcomes were recorded, 13 (11%) developed XDR-TB.
CONCLUSION:
Interventions focused on supporting patient adherence during the intensive phase of treatment; the management of drug and alcohol addiction should be developed and studied. A substantial proportion of patients developed XDR-TB during and after treatment. Longer term follow-up data of patients treated for MDR-TB are needed to better inform programmatic policy.