title: Impact of tea drinking upon tuberculosis: a neglected issue.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health issue posing serious harm to the human health. Many studies have suggested that smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are risk factors for TB. Laboratory evidence suggests that EGCG in tea leaves can arrest the growth of tubercle bacillus. Can drinking tea lead to decreased susceptibility of TB in humans?
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 574 TB patients and 582 healthy controls were recruited to participate in this case-control study. Self-designed questionnaire was used to collect data. Unconditioned logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the associations between tea drinking and TB.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tea drinking has a negative association with TB, with OR = 0.583(0.423, 0.804) and P < 0.05. Drinking black tea, oolong and green tea are all negative association with TB, with OR being 0.683(0.517, 0.902), 0.674(0.508, 0.894) and 0.534(0.349, 0.817) respectively and P < 0.05. Trend χ (2) test indicated a decreasing risk for TB with increased tea consumption, with P < 0.05.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a significance negative association between tea drinking and TB. Promoting the consumption of tea as the daily drink among populations, particularly those with high TB risk, may reduce the incidence of TB in the populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. 121444639@qq.com.|Hunan Children's Hospital, Ziyuan RD 86, Changsha, Hunan, 410007, P. R. China. 121444639@qq.com.
authors.forename: Mengshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. dengjing2@126.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Shaoyang Medical College, Shaoyang, Hunan, 422000, P. R. China. lwf820126@163.com.
authors.forename: Wufei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. lin_d@qq.com.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Yueyanglou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yueyang, Hunan, 414000, P. R. China. 308095958@qq.com.
authors.forename: Congxu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. wangmian129@163.com.
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. li.xunxx@qq.com.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. BAbuaku@noguchi.mimcom.org.|Department of Epidemiology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, P, O, Box LG581, Legon, Accra, Ghana. BAbuaku@noguchi.mimcom.org.
authors.forename: Benjamin Kwaku
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Abuaku
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. tanhz99@qq.com.
authors.forename: Hongzhuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P. R. China. swwen@ohri.ca.|Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Department of Epidemiology & Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, The Ottawa Hospital 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. swwen@ohri.ca.
authors.forename: Shi Wu
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013662:Tea; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013662:Tea