RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Gender-based differences in community-wide screening for pulmonary tuberculosis in Karachi, Pakistan: an observational study of 311 732 individuals undergoing screening
JF Thorax
JO Thorax
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society
SP thoraxjnl-2020-216409
DO 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-216409
A1 Shifa Salman Habib
A1 Syed Mohammad Asad Zaidi
A1 Wafa Zehra Jamal
A1 Kiran Sohail Azeemi
A1 Salman Khan
A1 Saira Khowaja
A1 Abdul Khalique Domki
A1 Aamir Khan
A1 Faiz Ahmad Khan
YR 2021
UL http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/11/thoraxjnl-2020-216409.abstract
AB We describe gender-based differences in a community-wide TB screening programme in Karachi, Pakistan, in which 311 732 individuals were screened in mobile camps using symptom questionnaires and van-mounted digital chest X-ray, between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019. Only 22.4% (69 869) of camp attendees were women. Female attendees were less likely to have sputum collected and tested (31.5% (95% CI 30.4% to 32.7%) vs 38.5% (95% CI 37.6% to 39.1%)) or to initiate TB treatment (75.9% (95% CI 68.1% to 82.6%) vs 82.8% (95% CI 78.9% to 86.2%)), when indicated. Among the participants, the age-standardised prevalence of active TB was higher among women (prevalence ratio 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7). These findings underscore the importance of integrating gender into the design and monitoring of TB screening programmes to ensure that women and men benefit equally from this important intervention.