Tuberculosis screening among foreign-born persons applying for permanent US residence.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to determine adherence of physicians to tuberculosis (TB) screening guidelines among foreign-born persons living in the United States who were applying for permanent residency.


METHODS
Medical forms of applicants from 5 geographic areas were reviewed, along with information from a national physician database on attending physicians. Applicant and corresponding physician characteristics were compared among those who were and were not correctly screened.


RESULTS
Of 5739 applicants eligible for screening via tuberculin skin test, 75% were appropriately screened. Except in San Diego, where 11% of the applicants received no screening, most of the inappropriate screening resulted from the use of chest x-rays as the initial screening tool.


CONCLUSIONS
Focused physician education and periodic monitoring of adherence to screening guidelines are warranted.
Saraiya
Mona
M
Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga, USA. yzs2@cdc.gov
Cookson
Susan T
ST
Tribble
Paul
P
Silk
Benjamin
B
Cass
Robert
R
Poonja
Shameer
S
Walting
Marva
M
Howland
Noelle
N
Paz
Edwin A
EA
Cochran
Jennifer
J
Moser
Kathleen S
KS
Oxtoby
Margaret J
MJ
Binkin
Nancy J
NJ
D000574:American Medical Association; D002140:California; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006077:Government Agencies; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008400:Mass Chest X-Ray / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008404:Massachusetts; D009518:New York; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards*; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States