Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Health Care Workers in South Korea: A Multicenter Study

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases

article

Kyung-Wook Jo¹  Yoonki Hong¹  Jae Seuk Park²  In-Gyu Bae³  Joong Sik Eom⁴  Sang-Rok Lee⁵  Oh-Hyun Cho³  Eun Ju Choo⁶  Jung Yeon Heo⁷  Jun Hee Woo⁸  Tae Sun Shim¹ 

[1] Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine;Department of Internal Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine;Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine;Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kandong Sacred Heart Hospital College of Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine;Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Cheongju St. Mary's Hospital;Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Soon Chun Hyang University Bucheon Hospital, Soon Chun Hyang University College of Medicine;Department of Internal Medicine, Armed Forces Capital Hospital;Division of Infectious Diseases, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine

关键词: Latent Tuberculosis;    Health Personnel;    Tuberculin Test;    Interferon-gamma Release Tests;    Republic of Korea;   

DOI  :  10.4046/trd.2013.75.1.18

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: The Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases

【 摘 要 】

Background We investigated the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among the health care workers (HCWs) and analyzed its risk factors in South Korea. Methods A standard questionnaire regarding the baseline demographics and risk factors for LTBI was given to each participant and tuberculin skin test (TST), QuantiFERON-TB GOLD In-Tube (QFT-GIT) assay, and chest radiography were performed. Results A total of 493 participants, 152 (30.8%) doctors and 341 (69.2%) nurses were enrolled in eight tertiary referral hospitals. The mean age of the subjects was 30.6 years old, and 383 (77.7%) were female. Of the 152 doctors, 63 (41.4%) and 36 (23.7%) were positive by TST and by QTF-GIT, respectively, and among the 341 nurses, 119 (34.9%) and 49 (14.4%) had positive TST and QFT-GIT results, respectively. Overall, the agreement between the two tests was 0.22 by the chance corrected proportional agreement rate (kappa coefficient) in 493 subjects. Experience of working in tuberculosis (TB)-related departments was significantly associated with positive LTBI test results by QFT-GIT assay, not by TST. In multivariate analysis, only age was independently associated with increased risk of a positive TST result, while age and experience of working in TB-related departments (odds ratio, 2.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-5.12) were independently associated with increased risk of a positive QFT-GIT result. Conclusion A high prevalence of LTBI was found among South Korean HCWs. Considering the association between the experience of working in TB-related departments and high risk of LTBI, QFT-GIT may be a better diagnostic test for LTBI than TST in HCWs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC