Tuberculosis among healthcare workers in southeastern China: A retrospective study of 7-year surveillance data

Abstract

The baseline prevalence and characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) among general healthcare workers (HCWs) in southeastern China remains unknown. We conducted a retrospective study based on the TB surveillance data in Zhejiang Province from 2005 to 2011, which were extracted from the national Tuberculosis Information Management System (TIMS). We calculated and compared annual notification rates of different occupational groups and analyzed the epidemiological and clinical characteristics. The annual TB notification rates among general HCWs declined steadily from 2005 to 2011. On average, HCWs showed annual TB notification rates lower than the general population but higher than teachers. Recorded HCW TB patients averaged 35.5 years of age, with females outnumbering males (58.0% > 42.0%). The proportion of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) was higher among male than in the female patients (88.5% > 83.4%, P = 0.031). Our study suggested that general HCWs run a higher occupational risk than teachers although the two groups are socioeconomically comparable and that the priority should be given to the young female HCWs for TB prevention in healthcare institutions.

Figure 1

TB notification rate of the general population, HCWs, and teachers from 2005 to 2011 in Zhejiang Province, China (/100,000).

Figure 2

PTB notification rate of the general population, HCWs, and teachers from 2005 to 2011 in Zhejiang Province, China (/100,000).

Figure 3

The location of Zhejiang in China.

Figure 4

Tuberculosis (TB) notification rates of HCWs in 11 prefectures from 2006 to 2011 in Zhejiang (color depth indicating severity of epidemic at each 25/100,000 with the lightest level at 0–25/100,000 and the deepest at 100–125/100,000).