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. 2025 Feb 14;25(1):220.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-025-10591-5.

Prevalence, perception of risk and mycobacterium tuberculosis control practices among healthcare workers in HIV care and treatment centres in North Central Nigeria

Evaezi Okpokoro  1   2 , Temitayo Lawal  3 , Oyewole Oyedele  4 , Victoria Etuk  4 , Stella Ijioma  4 , Temitope Adetiba  5 , Miriam Bathnna  4 , Chinye Osa-Afiana  4 , Nifarta Andrew  4 , Alash'le Abimiku  4   6
Affiliations

Prevalence, perception of risk and mycobacterium tuberculosis control practices among healthcare workers in HIV care and treatment centres in North Central Nigeria

Evaezi Okpokoro et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Globally, Healthcare workers (HWs) are known to be at higher risk of Tuberculosis (TB), especially those working in HIV settings. Understanding HW's alertness of TB risk is an important step to ensure safety in such settings. Hence, we assessed the perception of the risk of TB and its associated factors among HWs in HIV care and treatment centres in North-Central Nigeria.

Methods: This study is a nested cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among HWs in North-Central Nigeria. HWs were recruited across 14 health facilities with dedicated HIV clinics (n = 337). Perception of risk to TB was captured using a binary outcome and a sliding scale of 1-10 on a structured questionnaire, and blood samples were collected and tested for mycobacterium TB infection at the biorepository of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria. Univariate and Multivariate analysis were performed using STATA version 18, with statistical significance set at 5%.

Results: Overall, 86.9% of HWs in HIV centres perceived themselves to be at risk of TB. Perception of risk to TB was significantly lower among male HWs (crude Odds Ratio: 0.50; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.26-0.95). Findings from the multivariable analysis further revealed that perception of risk to TB was significantly lower among HWs < 20years (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 0.13; 95%CI: 0.02-0.83), HW with no formal/primary education (aOR: 0.10; 95%CI: 0.01-0.73) and HWs working in primary (aOR: 0.24; 95%CI: 0.06-0.92) or secondary (aOR: 0.41; 95%CI: 0.18-0.95) healthcare facilities. Also, daily monitoring of TB Infection Control (IC) practices (aOR: 2.53; 95%CI: 1.27-5.04) and having a designated area for sputum samples collection (aOR: 3.68; 95%CI: 1.38-9.77) were associated with increased odds of perception of risk to TB while the presence of annual HIV testing was associated with decreased perception of risk to TB.

Conclusion: There is a high perception of risk to TB among HWs working in HIV clinics. However, perception of risk to TB is influenced by age, educational status, level of care at healthcare facilities, and level of TB IC practices. TB IC trainings should target younger HWs, who are males, with no formal education and working in primary health facilities.

Keywords: HIV; Healthcare workers; Nigeria; Risk perception; Tuberculosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the National Health Research Ethics Committee, with approval number NHREC/01/01/2007-09/04/2021, and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki– signed informed consent forms were obtained before enrolment into the study and personal information was kept confidential. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
QuantiFERON result among HWs with no perceived risk to TB
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
QuantiFERON result among HWs with perceived risk to TB
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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