Tuberculosis and poverty

OBJECTIVE--To examine whether the historical link between tuberculosis and poverty still exists. DESIGN--Retrospective study examining the notifications of all forms of tuberculosis by council ward over a six year period and correlating this with four indices of poverty; council housing, free school...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ 1993-09, Vol.307 (6907), p.759-761
Main Authors: Spence, D P, Hotchkiss, J, Williams, C S, Davies, P D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the respiratory system
Biological and medical sciences
Censuses
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
England - epidemiology
Epidemiology
Female
Food deprivation
Free schools
Housing
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Poverty
Pulmonary tuberculosis
Retrospective Studies
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis - epidemiology
Tuberculosis - etiology
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Summary:OBJECTIVE--To examine whether the historical link between tuberculosis and poverty still exists. DESIGN--Retrospective study examining the notifications of all forms of tuberculosis by council ward over a six year period and correlating this with four indices of poverty; council housing, free school meals, the Townsend overall deprivation index, and the Jarman index. SETTING--The 33 electoral wards of the city of Liverpool. SUBJECTS--344 residents of Liverpool with tuberculosis. RESULTS--The rate of tuberculosis was correlated with all measures of poverty, the strongest correlation being with the Jarman index (r = 0.73, p < 0.0001). This link was independent of the high rates of tuberculosis seen in ethnic minorities. CONCLUSION--Tuberculosis remains strongly associated with poverty.
ISSN:0959-8138
0959-8146
1468-5833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.307.6907.759