title: Prevalence of tuberculin reactivity and risk factors for the development of active tuberculosis upon 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%. The most prevalent risk factors for development of active tuberculosis were diabetes mellitus (42.4%), being more than 10% below ideal body weight (41.5%), and alcohol abuse (12.7%). 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%) and the prevalence found previously among residents in the same in nursing home (42.9%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Vega Torres
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Conde
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Díaz
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D001835:Body Weight; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012307:Risk Factors; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*