Associated Factors for Positive CXR Among TB High Risk Group Screening in Kedah

Abstract

Screening for Tuberculosis (TB) using Chest X-Rays (CXR) among high-risk individuals is essential to help reach the End TB Strategy goal in reduction of 90% in TB incidence by 2035. Even though Ministry of Health Malaysia has made screening compulsory, the number of cases detected is not encouraging. Therefore, it is essential to identify factors contributing to positive screening that would improve case detection. High-risk groups are individuals that are compulsory to be screened using chest x-ray, regardless of presence or absence of TB symptoms. A cross sectional study was done in 2016 involving individuals belonging to TB high-risk groups who underwent screening in Kedah, Malaysia. Data was obtained from the TB information system (TBIS) 104 A, an information system used for TB screening monitoring and chest x-ray report of the selected individuals. It involved 1417 individuals who were randomly selected from various health facilities in six districts of Kedah. Among all 1417 study samples, 1036 (73.1%) individuals were asymptomatic. Among the asymptomatic individuals, only 91 (8.8%) had positive CXR findings. Smokers were found to have almost 3 times the odds of having positive CXR findings compared to non-smokers [Adjusted OR (95% CI): 2.71 (1.03, 7.15), p-value<0.05] when gender and age are controlled. The elderly age group had almost three times the odds of having positive CXR findings compared to the younger age group [adjusted OR (95% CI): 2.85 (1.83, 4.43), p-value <0.05]. Males had almost twice the odds of having positive chest x-ray compared to females [adjusted OR (95%CI): 1.7 (1.08, 2.09), p-value <0.05].  As a conclusion, smokers were important group of individuals that must be prioritised during high risk group TB screening, especially among males and elderly smokers