Prevalence of and factors related to latent tuberculous infection among all employees in a referral hospital

Abstract

SETTING: Referral hospital, South Korea.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of and factors related to latent tuberculous infection (LTBI) among all hospital employees.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of 479 health care workers (HCWs) undergoing LTBI screening.

RESULTS: Overall prevalence of LTBI was 15.7%, 43.1% of whom initiated and completed LTBI treatment. Compared with HCWs without LTBI, those with LTBI were more likely to be older (P < 0.001), male (P = 0.003), work in low-risk departments (P = 0.013) and have more years of employment (P < 0.001). LTBI prevalence was highest in physicians (27.8%), followed by HCWs without patient contact (23.4%), nurses (8.3%) and other HCWs in contact with patients (6.9%). In multivariate analysis, compared with HCWs aged <20 years, those aged 40 years were 4.08 times more likely to have LTBI (P = 0.007). In addition, compared with HCWs working for <1 year, those working for 1–5 years or for 5 years were respectively 7.55 (P = 0.014) and 13.69 (P = 0.001) times more likely to have LTBI.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that modified LTBI screening strategies, including HCWs with no patient contact and encouraging LTBI treatment participation, might be helpful in improving LTBI control in HCWs.