Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence

Last year, two striking studies focused attention on sex differences in tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology. Katherine Horton and team’s metaanalysis of 56 prevalence surveys undertaken in low- and middle-income countries found that adult men had 2.21 (95% CI, 1.92–2.54) times more bacteriologically conf...

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Main Authors: Yates, T, Atkinson, S
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 2017
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author Yates, T
Atkinson, S
author_facet Yates, T
Atkinson, S
author_sort Yates, T
collection OXFORD
description Last year, two striking studies focused attention on sex differences in tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology. Katherine Horton and team’s metaanalysis of 56 prevalence surveys undertaken in low- and middle-income countries found that adult men had 2.21 (95% CI, 1.92–2.54) times more bacteriologically confirmed TB than adult women. The equivalent ratio for smear-positive TB (reported in 40 surveys), was 2.51 (95%CI 2.07–3.04). A male preponderance of prevalent TB was observed in all World Health Organization geographical regions that contributed sufficient data to draw meaningful conclusions. In the second study, Pete Dodd and colleagues utilised data on adult TB prevalence, the incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children, and data on social contact patterns from communities in Zambia and the Western Cape of South Africa, to produce modelled estimates of the incidence of M. tuberculosis infection, by age and sex. Whilst men and women had similar numbers of social contacts, contact patterns were strongly age and sex assortative. A key finding was that 66% (95%CI 64–67, Zambia) and 57% (95%CI 56–58, Western Cape) of incident M. tuberculosis infections were attributable to contact with adult men. The authors commented that this ‘was largely because tuberculosis prevalence was higher in male interviewees’.
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spelling oxford-uuid:d6d8e879-7cd9-45f9-b6ce-83a694a6d1e72022-03-27T08:36:38ZIroning out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalenceJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d6d8e879-7cd9-45f9-b6ce-83a694a6d1e7EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordInternational Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease2017Yates, TAtkinson, SLast year, two striking studies focused attention on sex differences in tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology. Katherine Horton and team’s metaanalysis of 56 prevalence surveys undertaken in low- and middle-income countries found that adult men had 2.21 (95% CI, 1.92–2.54) times more bacteriologically confirmed TB than adult women. The equivalent ratio for smear-positive TB (reported in 40 surveys), was 2.51 (95%CI 2.07–3.04). A male preponderance of prevalent TB was observed in all World Health Organization geographical regions that contributed sufficient data to draw meaningful conclusions. In the second study, Pete Dodd and colleagues utilised data on adult TB prevalence, the incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children, and data on social contact patterns from communities in Zambia and the Western Cape of South Africa, to produce modelled estimates of the incidence of M. tuberculosis infection, by age and sex. Whilst men and women had similar numbers of social contacts, contact patterns were strongly age and sex assortative. A key finding was that 66% (95%CI 64–67, Zambia) and 57% (95%CI 56–58, Western Cape) of incident M. tuberculosis infections were attributable to contact with adult men. The authors commented that this ‘was largely because tuberculosis prevalence was higher in male interviewees’.
spellingShingle Yates, T
Atkinson, S
Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title_full Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title_fullStr Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title_full_unstemmed Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title_short Ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
title_sort ironing out sex differences in tuberculosis prevalence
work_keys_str_mv AT yatest ironingoutsexdifferencesintuberculosisprevalence
AT atkinsons ironingoutsexdifferencesintuberculosisprevalence