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Volume 30, Number 1—January 2024
Dispatch

Tuberculosis Diagnostic Delays and Treatment Outcomes among Patients with COVID-19, California, USA, 2020

Emily Han1, Scott A. Nabity1Comments to Author , Shom Dasgupta-Tsinikas, Ramon E. Guevara, Marisa Moore, Ankita Kadakia, Hannah Henry, Martin Cilnis, Sonal Buhain, Amit Chitnis, Melony Chakrabarty, Ann Ky, Quy Nguyen, Julie Low, Seema Jain, Julie Higashi, Pennan M. Barry, and Jennifer Flood
Author affiliations: California Department of Public Health, Richmond, California, USA (E. Han, S.A. Nabity, H. Henry, M. Cilnis, S. Jain, P.M. Barry, J. Flood); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (S.A. Nabity, M. Moore); Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA (S. Dasgupta-Tsinikas, R.E. Guevara, J. Higashi); San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego, California, USA (M. Moore, A. Kadakia); Alameda County Public Health Department, San Leandro, California, USA (S. Buhain, A. Chitnis); Sacramento County Health Services, Sacramento, California, USA (M. Chakrabarty); Santa Clara County Public Health Department, San Jose, California, USA (A. Ky); Orange County Health Care Agency, Santa Ana, California, USA (Q. Nguyen, J. Low)

Main Article

Table 1

Characteristics of 51 persons with pulmonary or pleural TB in a study of TB diagnostic delays and treatment outcomes among patients with COVID-19, California, USA, 2020*

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.

Main Article

1These first authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: November 13, 2023
Page updated: December 20, 2023
Page reviewed: December 20, 2023
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