Volume 26, Number 9—September 2020
Dispatch
Mycobacterial Testing Trends, United States, 2009–20151
Table 1
Rates of laboratory testing for AFB and pathogenic NTM positivity, United States, 2009–2015*
| Variable |
No. (%) patients† | No. (%) patients tested for AFB | Tests for AFB/10,000 patients‡ | Pathogenic NTM cases/10,000 patients | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total |
10,802,134 (100.0) |
48,563 (100.0) |
45.0 |
3.1 |
|
| Sex | |||||
| F | 5,599,841 (51.8) | 22,975 (47.3) | 41.0 | 3.0 | |
| M |
4,545,803 (42.1) |
25,585 (52.7) |
56.3 |
3.6 |
|
| Age, y | |||||
| <65 | 9,041,231 (83.7) | 27,830 (57.3) | 30.8 | 1.9 | |
| ≥65 |
1,984,443 (18.4) |
20,670 (42.6) |
104.2 |
8.3 |
|
| Sex and age, y | |||||
| F, <65 | 4,638,813 (42.9) | 12,797 (26.4) | 27.9 | 1.6 | |
| F, ≥65 | 1,089,079 (10.1) | 10,144 (20.9) | 94.6 | 8.8 | |
| M, <65 | 3,817,761 (35.3) | 15,030 (30.9) | 39.8 | 2.5 | |
| M, ≥65 |
816,161 (7.6) |
10,526 (21.7) |
131.0 |
8.6 |
|
| Census region | |||||
| Midwest | 2,112,964 (19.6) | 11,866 (24.4) | 56.2 | 4.7 | |
| Northeast | 4,155,756 (38.5) | 16,203 (33.4) | 39.0 | 2.2 | |
| South | 3,020,093 (28.0) | 14,823 (30.5) | 49.1 | 3.1 | |
| West |
1,513,321 (14.0) |
5,671 (11.7) |
37.5 |
3.2 |
|
| Race§ | |||||
| African American | 1,645,676 (15.2) | 8,639 (17.8) | 52.5 | 3.4 | |
| Asian | 306,103 (2.8) | 1,458 (3.0) | 47.6 | 5.6 | |
| White |
6,411,413 (59.4) |
34,300 (70.6) |
53.5 |
3.6 |
|
| Concurrent conditions | |||||
| Lung cancer | 56,719 (0.5) | 3,729 (7.7) | 657.5 | 24.9 | |
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 52,004 (0.5) | 711 (1.5) | 136.7 | 6.7 | |
| Cystic fibrosis | 3,835 (0.04) | 865 (1.8) | 2,255.5 | 276.4 | |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 165,107 (1.5) | 4,301 (8.9) | 260.5 | 19.9 | |
| Bronchiectasis |
8,666 (0.1) |
1,588 (3.3) |
1,832.4 |
339.3 |
|
| Teaching status indicator¶ | |||||
| Nonteaching | 2,094,368 (19.4) | 7,815 (16.1) | 37.3 | 3.3 | |
| Teaching |
8,816,749 (81.6) | 39,592 (81.5) | 44.9 | 3.0 | |
*AFB, acid-fast bacilli; NTM, nontuberculous mycobacteria.
†Stratified totals do not always add up to 100% because of missing data and patients’ membership in multiple categories.
‡Patients with multiple tests or positive isolates are counted a single time.
§Racial/ethnic groups with small sample sizes and patients categorized as “Unknown” are not shown in stratified analysis.
¶Teaching status indicator refers to whether a facility visited by a patient is a teaching facility.
1Preliminary results from this study were presented at the IDWeek Conference; October 2–6, 2019; Washington, DC, USA.
2Current affiliation: Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California, USA.