Volume 30, Number 1—January 2024
Dispatch
Tuberculosis Diagnostic Delays and Treatment Outcomes among Patients with COVID-19, California, USA, 2020
Table 1
Characteristics | Diagnostic delay† | No diagnostic delay | |
---|---|---|---|
All pulmonary or pleural cases‡ |
22 |
29 |
|
Median days between symptom onset to first TB care visit (IQR) |
95.0 (60.0‒117.0) |
5.5 (2.0‒13.0) |
|
Age, y (IQR) |
55.5 (42.0‒71.0) |
58 (49.0‒77.0) |
|
Sex | |||
M | 11 (50.0) | 22 (75.6) | |
F |
11 (50.0) |
7 (24.1) |
|
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity |
13 (59.1) |
17 (58.6) |
|
Healthy Places Index score in 1st quartile§ |
10 (45.5) |
10 (34.5) |
|
Primary language non-English, n = 46 |
13 (59.1) |
18 (66.7) |
|
No health insurance |
2 (9.5) |
7 (28.0) |
|
Essential worker¶ |
8 (36.4) |
4 (14.3) |
|
No. underlying conditions | |||
0–1 | 9 (40.9) | 12 (41.4) | |
>2 |
13 (59.1) |
17 (58.6) |
|
Smear-positive, cavitary, or disseminated pulmonary TB# |
19 (86.4) |
16 (55.2) |
|
Mycobacterium tuberculosis NAAT testing done | 21 (95.5) | 23 (79.3) | |
Positive M. tuberculosis NAAT | 18 (85.7) | 16 (69.6) | |
M. tuberculosis NAAT done before or within 7 d of TB diagnosis |
19 (90.5) |
18 (78.3) |
|
Recent secondary TB case among cases with genotype** |
4 (18.2) |
3 (10.3) |
|
Diagnosed with COVID-19 during period of elevated COVID-19 incidence†† |
18 (81.8) |
16 (55.2) |
|
Missed opportunity for pulmonary TB diagnosis |
6 (27.3) |
2 (6.9) |
|
Order of disease | |||
TB first | 7 (31.8) | 8 (27.6) | |
COVID-19 first | 2 (9.1) | 3 (10.3) | |
Not distinct | 7 (31.8) | 12 (41.4) | |
>1 episode, asymptomatic or with unknown symptoms |
6 (27.3) |
6 (20.7) |
|
Death | 2 (9.1) | 6 (20.7) | |
ICU and intubated while hospitalized for TB | 1 (50.0) | 3 (50.0) | |
Died in hospital | 1 (50.0) | 4 (66.7) |
*TB–COVID-19 co-infected patients had TB and COVID-19 diagnoses within 120 d of each other, whereby >1 of the diseases was diagnosed in 2020. Included California jurisdictions were Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Clara Counties. Values are no. (%) except where indicated. Bold text indicates statistical significance (p<0.05). ICU, intensive care unit; NAAT, nucleic acid amplification test; TB, tuberculosis. †Diagnostic delay was defined as >30 d between TB symptom onset and first care visit for TB. ‡Extrapulmonary-only cases not included. §The Healthy Places Index combines 25 community characteristics, such as access to healthcare, housing, education, and more, into a single indexed score; 1st quartile is the least advantaged score. ¶Work that must be done in person and in which the worker interacts with other workers or the public. #Disseminated TB is defined as meningeal, miliary, positive acid-fast bacilli blood culture, or both pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. **Based on phylogenetic analysis (<5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms) and timing (<3 y) or epidemiologic link. ††California 7-d average incidence of new COVID-19 cases >15 cases per 100,000 population.
1These first authors contributed equally to this article.