Cargando…

Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis remains one of the top 10 major causes of global mortality, imposing social–economic and medical challenges in Malaysia. Refugees sheltered in Malaysia are a high-risk population but basic health checks upon their arrival, including tuberculosis screening, are not practise...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wong, Yen Jun, Lee, Shaun Wen Huey
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: European Respiratory Society 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7061204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32166089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00254-2019
_version_ 1783504359333560320
author Wong, Yen Jun
Lee, Shaun Wen Huey
author_facet Wong, Yen Jun
Lee, Shaun Wen Huey
author_sort Wong, Yen Jun
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis remains one of the top 10 major causes of global mortality, imposing social–economic and medical challenges in Malaysia. Refugees sheltered in Malaysia are a high-risk population but basic health checks upon their arrival, including tuberculosis screening, are not practised. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and risk factors of tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among refugee children in Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in three refugee schools in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, using tuberculin skin tests or interferon-γ release assays. Participants who tested positive were sent for further examination with chest radiography to confirm the tuberculosis diagnosis. RESULTS: From April 2018 to April 2019, we screened 430 refugee children with a median age of 13.0 years. Most of the children were born in Myanmar (n=274, 63.7%) and Pakistan (n=60, 14.0%). No children were diagnosed with active tuberculosis but 55 of the children (12.8%) were diagnosed with LTBI. Children with LTBI were generally older (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.71–5.29; p<0.001) than those without LTBI infection. Sex, history of bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccination and country of birth were not associated with increased risk of LTBI. CONCLUSION: The relatively high LTBI burden among refugee children in this study poses an indication of possible LTBI risk among this population nationwide, and thus would be an important group to target for preventive therapy. This provides a unique opportunity for researchers to further examine and implement well-structured preventive strategies in combating the endemic infectious disease in Malaysia.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7061204
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher European Respiratory Society
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-70612042020-03-12 Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia Wong, Yen Jun Lee, Shaun Wen Huey ERJ Open Res Original Articles INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis remains one of the top 10 major causes of global mortality, imposing social–economic and medical challenges in Malaysia. Refugees sheltered in Malaysia are a high-risk population but basic health checks upon their arrival, including tuberculosis screening, are not practised. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and risk factors of tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among refugee children in Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in three refugee schools in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, using tuberculin skin tests or interferon-γ release assays. Participants who tested positive were sent for further examination with chest radiography to confirm the tuberculosis diagnosis. RESULTS: From April 2018 to April 2019, we screened 430 refugee children with a median age of 13.0 years. Most of the children were born in Myanmar (n=274, 63.7%) and Pakistan (n=60, 14.0%). No children were diagnosed with active tuberculosis but 55 of the children (12.8%) were diagnosed with LTBI. Children with LTBI were generally older (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.71–5.29; p<0.001) than those without LTBI infection. Sex, history of bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccination and country of birth were not associated with increased risk of LTBI. CONCLUSION: The relatively high LTBI burden among refugee children in this study poses an indication of possible LTBI risk among this population nationwide, and thus would be an important group to target for preventive therapy. This provides a unique opportunity for researchers to further examine and implement well-structured preventive strategies in combating the endemic infectious disease in Malaysia. European Respiratory Society 2020-03-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7061204/ /pubmed/32166089 http://dx.doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00254-2019 Text en Copyright ©ERS 2020 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Wong, Yen Jun
Lee, Shaun Wen Huey
Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title_full Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title_fullStr Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title_short Prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in Malaysia
title_sort prevalence of latent tuberculosis among refugee children in malaysia
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7061204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32166089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00254-2019
work_keys_str_mv AT wongyenjun prevalenceoflatenttuberculosisamongrefugeechildreninmalaysia
AT leeshaunwenhuey prevalenceoflatenttuberculosisamongrefugeechildreninmalaysia