• DOI:10.5588/ijtld.18.0388
• Corpus ID: 59225412

Respiratory tuberculosis incidence and mortality in Estonia: 30-year trends and sociodemographic determinants.

@article{Rahu2019RespiratoryTI,
  title={Respiratory tuberculosis incidence and mortality in Estonia: 30-year trends and sociodemographic determinants.},
  author={Kaja Rahu and Piret Viiklepp and K Villand and Lea Pehme and Mati Rahu},
  journal={The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease},
  year={2019},
  volume={23 1},
  pages={
          112-118
        }
}

• K. Rahu, P. Viiklepp, +2 authors M. Rahu
• Published 2019
• Medicine, Biology
• The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

OBJECTIVE
To explore time trends in the incidence and mortality of respiratory tuberculosis (TB) over a 30-year period in Estonia, and to evaluate disease disparities according to sex, age, ethnicity and education.

DESIGN
Data from the TB Register and the Causes of Death Register were used to assess time trends in age-standardised incidence and mortality rates. The effect of sociodemographic characteristics on TB risk was modelled using Poisson regression around three population censuses.

RESULTS
Respiratory TB incidence and mortality decreased in males and were stable in females in 1987-1991, after which the rates increased sharply in both sexes until 1998 and decreased steadily afterwards. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) incidence rose in males until 1998 and in females until 2002, and then started to fall. The incidence of TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection in males increased until 2007 and decreased thereafter. Less educated people and non-Estonians had a significantly higher relative risk of respiratory TB.

CONCLUSION
Estonia, one of the countries most affected by TB in the World Health Organization European Region, has made considerable progress in reducing the risk of respiratory TB, TB-HIV and MDR-TB. Continuing education- and ethnicity-related disparities in TB risk remain a concern.