Prevalence of tuberculin reactivity and risk factors for the development of active tuberculosis admission to a nursing home

ABSTRACT

A total of 118 nursing home admissions were studied to determine the prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection and the prevalence of risk factors for the development of active tuberculosis. The overall prevalence of positive tests was 22.5 per cent. The most prevalent risk factors for development of active tuberculosis were diabetes mellitus (42.4 per cent), being more than 10 per cent below ideal body weight (41.5 per cent), and alcohol abuse (12.7 per cent). Thirty-four percent of admissions had albumin levels below 3.5 g/dl. No associations were found when logistic regression was used to determine the impact of age and poor nutritional status on the prevalence of positive PPD tests on admission. These results show a substantial difference between the prevalence of positive PPD tests found upon nursing home admissions (22.5 per cent) and the prevalence found previously among residents in the same in nursing home (42.9 per cent).