title: The risk of tuberculosis in patients with cancer.
abstract: Current US guidelines for the management of latent tuberculosis infection in cancer patients are based on studies from 1970s, yet much about cancer care has changed in the interim. In a review of our experience during the past 25 years, we found that incidence of tuberculosis varied significantly according to country of birth and cancer type. Foreign-born patients with underlying hematologic neoplasm had a tuberculosis rate 50-100 times higher than US-born patients, whereas US-born patients with an underlying solid tumor had the same tuberculosis rate as US-born persons without cancer. These findings may help guide the management of latent tuberculosis infection in persons with cancer.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Mini
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamboj
authors.forename: Kent A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Sepkowitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000209:etiology*