Tuberc Respir Dis.  2018 Oct;81(4):274-280. 10.4046/trd.2018.0020.

The Prevalence and Risk Factors of Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Health Care Workers Working in a Tertiary Hospital in South Korea

• Park JS

• KMID: 2420560
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2018.0020

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection among health care workers (HCWs) is higher than as noted among workers in the general population. The prevalence and risk factors of TB infection among HCWs were assessed in a tertiary hospital in South Korea, resulting in a conclusion of an intermediate TB burden within the country.
METHODS
This cross-sectional study enrolled HCWs who underwent a QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test to detect the presence of a latent TB infection (LTBI), in patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in South Korea in 2017. The departments of the hospital were divided into TB-related and TB-unrelated departments, which were based on the risk of exposure to TB patients. In this sense, the risk factors for LTBI, including current working in the TB-related departments, were analyzed.
RESULTS
In this case, a total of 499 HCWs (54 doctors, 365 nurses and 80 paramedical personnel) were enrolled in this study. The median age of the subjects was 31 years (range, 20-67 years), 428 (85.8%) were female, and 208 (41.7%) were working in the TB-related departments. The prevalence of LTBI was 15.8% based on the QFT-GIT. Additionally, the prevalence of experience of exposure to pre-treatment TB patents was higher among HCWs working in the TB-related departments, than among HCWs working in the TB-unrelated departments (78.8% vs. 61.9%, p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of LTBI between the two groups (17.3% vs. 14.8%, p=0.458). On a review of the multivariate analysis, only the factor of age was independently associated with an increased risk of LTBI (p=0.006).
CONCLUSION
Broadly speaking, the factor of age was associated with an increased risk of LTBI among the HCWs in South Korea. However, those workers current working in the TB-related departments was not associated with an increased risk of LTBI.

Keyword

Latent Tuberculosis; Healthcare Worker; Republic of Korea

MeSH Terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care*
Female
Humans
Korea*
Latent Tuberculosis*
Multivariate Analysis
Prevalence*
Republic of Korea
Risk Factors*
Tertiary Care Centers*
Tuberculosis

Figure

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  Figure 1 QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QTF-GIT) positive rate according to age. There was no difference in the QFT-GIT positive rate between tuberculosis (TB)-related and TB-unrelated departments in each age group.

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  Figure 2 QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) positive rate according to duration of work as health care worker (HCW). There was no difference in the QFT-GIT positive rate between the tuberculosis (TB)-related and TB-unrelated departments in each duration of work as a HCW group.

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