Epidemiol Health.  2016;38:e2016032. 10.4178/epih.e2016032.

Comparison of the tuberculin skin test and the QuantiFERON-TB Gold test in detecting latent tuberculosis in health care workers in Iran

• Mostafavi
• Nasehi M
• Hashemi Shahraki A
• Esmaeili S
• Ghaderi E
• Sharafi S
• Doosti-Irani A

• KMID: 2380717
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2016032

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The tuberculin skin test (TST) and the QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT) are used to identify latent tuberculosis infections (LTBIs). The aim of this study was to determine the agreement between these two tests among health care workers in Iran.
METHODS
This cross-sectional study included 177 tuberculosis (TB) laboratory staff and 67 non-TB staff. TST indurations of 10 mm or more were considered positive. The Student's t-test and the chi-square test were used to compare the mean score and proportion of variables between the TB laboratory staff and the non-TB laboratory staff. Kappa statistics were used to evaluate the agreement between these tests, and logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors associated with positive results for each test.
RESULTS
The prevalence of LTBIs according to both the QFT and the TST was 17% (95% confidence interval [CI], 12% to 21%) and 16% (95% CI, 11% to 21%), respectively. The agreement between the QFT and the TST was 77.46%, with a kappa of 0.19 (95% CI, 0.04 to 0.34).
CONCLUSIONS
Although the prevalence of LTBI based on the QFT and the TST was not significantly different, the kappa statistic was low between these two tests for the detection of LTBIs.

Keyword

Latent tuberculosis; Tuberculin skin test; QuantiFERON-TB Gold; Health care workers

MeSH Terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care*
Iran*
Latent Tuberculosis*
Logistic Models
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Skin Tests*
Skin*
Tuberculin*
Tuberculosis
Tuberculin