Latent Tuberculosis and Current Health Disparities in California: Making the Invisible Visible

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to have devastating consequences for patients both globally and locally, with disease risk concentrated in specific subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, and nativity. We highlight TB disparities in California in 2016, and describe opportunities to reduce disparities by s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2018-11, Vol.108 (S4), p.S242-S245
Main Authors: Katrak, Shereen, Flood, Jenny
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Access to Care
AJPH s
Asymptomatic
Barriers
Control programs
Diabetes
Disease
Disease prevention
Ethnicity
Health care
Health care industry
Health care policy
Health disparities
Health education
Health risks
Health Service Delivery
Health services
Hispanic Americans
Infections
Infectious diseases
Investments
Mainstreaming
Medical treatment
Minority & ethnic groups
Other Race/Ethnicity
Pacific Islander people
Patients
Population
Prevention
Primary care
Public finance
Public health
Race
Risk groups
Subgroups
Trends
Tuberculosis
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Description
Summary:Tuberculosis (TB) continues to have devastating consequences for patients both globally and locally, with disease risk concentrated in specific subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, and nativity. We highlight TB disparities in California in 2016, and describe opportunities to reduce disparities by scaling up screening and treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) in primary care settings. Primary impediments to mainstreaming LTBI screening and treatment and reducing TB disparities include poor understanding of patient-level barriers, knowledge gaps on the part of health care providers, and insufficient promotion of effective testing and treatment strategies. To overcome these barriers, efforts should focus on finding and engaging high-risk patients and the providers who serve them, as well as enabling health care systems to adopt recommended strategies for testing and treatment through improved dissemination of policy, tracking and measuring LTBI outcomes, and reducing financial barriers to LTBI treatment.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304529