Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Health Care Workers in South Korea: A Multicenter Study

• DOI: 10.4046/trd.2013.75.1.18
• Publication Date: 2013-08-12T09:29:28Z
• Authors: Kyung-Wook Jo; Yoonki Hong; Jae Seuk Park; In-Gyu Bae; Joong Sik Eom; Sang-Rok Lee; Oh-Hyun Cho; Eun Ju Choo; Jung Yeon Heo; Jun Hee Woo; Tae Sun Shim
• Keywords: QuantiFERON

We investigated the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among health care workers (HCWs) and analyzed its risk factors in South Korea.A standard questionnaire regarding baseline demographics for LTBI was given to each participant tuberculin skin test (TST), QuantiFERON-TB GOLD In-Tube (QFT-GIT) assay, chest radiography were performed.A total 493 participants, 152 (30.8%) doctors 341 (69.2%) nurses enrolled eight tertiary referral hospitals. The mean age subjects 30.6 years old, 383 (77.7%) female. Of doctors, 63 (41.4%) 36 (23.7%) positive by TST QTF-GIT, respectively, nurses, 119 (34.9%) 49 (14.4%) had QFT-GIT results, respectively. Overall, agreement between two tests 0.22 chance corrected proportional rate (kappa coefficient) subjects. Experience working (TB)-related departments significantly associated with results not TST. In multivariate analysis, only independently increased a result, while experience TB-related (odds ratio, 2.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-5.12) result.A high found Korean HCWs. Considering association LTBI, may be better diagnostic than