Korean J Occup Environ Med.  2011 Mar;23(1):64-70.

The Relationship between Hospital Departments and Risk of Developing Tuberculosis among Nurses Working at a University Hospitalin Korea: Retrospective Cohort Study

• Yoon JH
• Oh SS
• Lee KH
• Kim SK
• Oh JH
• Won CS
• Chang SJ
• Cha BS
• Eom AY
• Koh SB

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the occurring characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) among nurses working at a university hospital in Korea.
METHODS
A retrospective cohort study was conducted using medical records from a university hospital. A total of 351 nurses without any pulmonary disease were enrolled during 2000~2007, and were followed up until October 2010. To compare with the incidence of TB between occupational subgroups, workplaces were divided into high and low TB-exposure risk departments. For statistical analysis, the relative risks for TB incidences between departments were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models and mean incidences were estimated with person-time years.
RESULTS
Seven cases of TB were observed during 2001 person-years. Five and two cases were observed in the high and low TB-exposure risk departments, respectively. The relative risk of TB infection in the high TB-exposure risk departments were 6.52 (95% CI, 1.26~33.60) compared to that in the low TB-exposure risk department. The mean incidence of TB in the total nurses was 0.350% per person-year.
CONCLUSIONS
According to the concept of occupational and environmental medicine, high TB-exposure risk departments were more likely to be at increased risk of tuberculosis.

Keyword

Tuberculosis; Nurses; Retrospective cohort

MeSH Terms

Cohort Studies
Environmental Medicine
Hospital Departments
Incidence
Lung Diseases
Medical Records
Proportional Hazards Models
Retrospective Studies
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary