About 20% of People With TB Report Substance Abuse; Trend Could Lead to Public Health Challenges, Study Says
About 20% of people with tuberculosis in the U.S. abuse drugs or alcohol, which could have important public health implications, according to a CDC study published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, Reuters reports. For the study, researchers tracked 153,268 people with TB between 1997 and 2006, which accounted for nearly all TB cases among U.S. residents ages 15 and older during the time period. The researchers found that 19% of all study participants reported substance abuse and that 29% of the 76,816 U.S.-born participants reported abusing drugs or alcohol.
According to the researchers, people with TB who abuse substances are more contagious and remain contagious longer than TB patients who do not have a history of substance abuse. In addition, substance abuse might increase the likelihood that someone with latent TB will develop active TB. People who abuse substances are less likely to access routine medical care or TB screenings, and substance abusers also might not adhere to TB treatment regimens properly, the researchers said.
Eric Pevzner, a CDC epidemiologist who worked on the study, said substance abuse is the "most commonly reported risk factor" for TB in the U.S., surpassing other factors such as HIV or homelessness. According to Pevzner, the study's findings have important public health implications for efforts to reduce TB rates in the country. Pevzner said that the U.S. "can't treat the TB in isolation," adding, "We have to bring in people who are experts in substance abuse and also treat the life circumstances that people are facing so that we can help cure this disease and help end a chain of transmission" (Dunham, Reuters, 1/26).
An abstract of the study is available online.
