RESUMO
Assuntos
Emigrantes e Imigrantes , Testes de Liberação de Interferon-gama/métodos , Programas de Rastreamento/métodos , Doenças Parasitárias/diagnóstico , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Boston , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Citocinas/metabolismo , Feminino , Humanos , Tuberculose Latente/diagnóstico , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Doenças Parasitárias/parasitologia , Estudos Prospectivos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Estudos Retrospectivos , Teste Tuberculínico , Adulto JovemRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The well-documented association between underweight and increased incidence of active tuberculosis (TB) has not been extended to incidence or prevalence of latent tuberculous infection (LTBI). DESIGN: After identifying studies that reported a categorical measure of body mass index (BMI) and used the tuberculin skin test (TST) or QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) to measure LTBI, a maximum likelihood random-effects model was used to examine the pooled association between LTBI and low BMI (<18.5 kg/m2), compared with 1) normal BMI (18.5-25 kg/m2) and 2) a complementary group of all others, i.e., non-underweight subjects (BMI î¶18.5 kg/m2). RESULTS: Among studies using TST, the odds ratios (ORs) showed a slight, non-statistically significant decrease in the odds of TST positivity in underweight persons compared with both groups (non-underweight, OR 0.88, 95%CI 0.73-1.05; normal weight, OR 0.96, 95%CI 0.77-1.20). Among studies using QFT, the OR suggested slightly decreased, yet non-significant, odds of QFT positivity in underweight compared with non-underweight subjects (OR 0.92, 95%CI 0.68-1.26), and significantly decreased odds of QFT positivity in underweight compared with normal weight subjects (OR 0.84, 95%CI 0.73-0.98). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that underweight persons are not at an increased risk of LTBI. Screening this population for LTBI would not increase the yield of identified LTBI.