Malnutrition is a risk factor for tuberculosis disease among household contacts: A case-control study in Uganda

Abstract

Objective: Household contacts (HHCs) of persons with tuberculosis (TB) including rifampicin-resistant or multi drug-resistant TB (RR/MDR-TB) are at risk for TB infection. We investigated whether index patient-level clinical and socio-demographic factors of persons with MDR-TB are associated with TB disease among their HHCs in Uganda. Methods: We designed an unmatched case-control study. Cases were HHCs of persons with MDR-TB that had TB disease while controls were a random sample of HHCs of persons with MDR-TB that had no TB disease. The case to-control ratio was 1:3. We identified the factors that significantly differed between the cases and controls in a multivariable binary logistic regression analysis and reported the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) Results: We found similar demographic and clinical characteristics among the 11 cases and 33 controls. In a multivariable analysis, malnutrition was significantly associated with being a case than a control (adjusted OR 5.01; 95% CI 1.18-24.83).

Conclusion: Therefore, TB Control Programs should focus on identifying malnutrition among persons with MDR TB and providing nutritional counseling and support to improve recovery, and potentially reduce household TB transmission and optimize treatment success. Additionally, rapid screening for TB and preventive therapy should be prioritized to reduce transmission.