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Prevalence of Tuberculin Skin Test Positivity in Clinical Population in New York City

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Abstract

The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in the various populations of New York City (NYC), a city with a high density of non-US-born persons, is unknown. We examined the prevalence of TST positivity in patients who received a tuberculin skin test (TST) between 1/2002 and 8/2004 at any of 10 NYC health department chest centers. A positive TST was defined as an induration reaction to tuberculin of ≥10 mm. In the study population of 41,022 individuals, prevalence of TST positivity was 24.4% (95%CI = 24.0, 24.8); four times higher among non-US-born persons than US-born (39.5% vs. 8.8%, Prevalence ratio (PR) = 4.5; 95%CI = 4.4, 4.6). Prevalence of TST positivity increased with age in both US and non-US-born persons. Persons from countries with a TB case rate >100/100,000 population had higher prevalence of TST positivity (47% vs. ≤39%), even after controlling for BCG (PR = 1.3, 95%CI = 1.2, 1.4). These findings provide insight into current prevalence of TST positivity in many immigrant populations and will help both clinicians and health departments to target patients for LTBI treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Drs. Cynthia R. Driver and Richard Menzies for their thorough review and helpful comments that led to an improved manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 233 Broadway, 26th floor, New York, NY, 10279-2600, USA

    Jiehui Li, Sonal S. Munsiff & Tracy B. Agerton

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Sonal S. Munsiff & Tracy B. Agerton

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  1. Jiehui Li
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  2. Sonal S. Munsiff
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  3. Tracy B. Agerton
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Correspondence to Jiehui Li.

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The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Li, J., Munsiff, S.S. & Agerton, T.B. Prevalence of Tuberculin Skin Test Positivity in Clinical Population in New York City. J Immigrant Minority Health 12, 816–822 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9204-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9204-9

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