Risk of tuberculosis in dialysis patients: a population-based study.
METHODS
Provincial tuberculosis (TB) and dialysis registries.


OBJECTIVE
To document the risk of TB among patients on dialysis and to describe the clinical characteristics of these cases.


METHODS
All cases of TB occurring among dialysis patients in British Columbia between January 1990 and December 1994 were reviewed, as were the age-specific rates for TB among the general population during the same period.


RESULTS
During that period, a total of seven cases of TB occurred among 560 patients on hemo-dialysis and two cases among 326 patients on peritoneal dialysis. On an annual basis the rate of TB in the dialysis population was 253 per 100,000, compared to an age-matched rate of 10.1 per 100,000 in the general population, giving a relative risk of 25.3 (95% confidence interval 22.86-31.49, P = 0.0000001).


CONCLUSIONS
The risk of TB in dialysis patients is significantly higher than previously reported from non population-based studies, indicating that dialysis patients should be considered a possible target population for systematic evaluation for the presence of TB infection and consideration for chemoprophylaxis.
Chia
S
S
Division of TB Control, BC Center for Disease Control and Departement of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Karim
M
M
Elwood
R K
RK
FitzGerald
J M
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis; D011159:Population Surveillance; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology