Related Experiment Videos
Effectiveness of postmigration screening in controlling tuberculosis among refugees: a historical cohort study,
G B Marks1, J Bai, G J Stewart
1South Western Sydney Area Health Service, Sydney, Australia. g.marks@unsw.edu.au
Objectives:
This study assessed the effectiveness of postmigration screening for the control of tuberculosis (TB) among refugee migrants.
Methods:
We conducted a historical cohort study among 24 610 predominantly Southeast Asian refugees who had arrived in Sydney, Australia, between 1984 and 1994. All had been screened for TB before arrival and had radiologic follow-up for 18 months after arrival. Incident cases of TB were identified by record linkage analysis with confirmatory review of case notes.
Results:
The crude annual incidence rate over 10-year follow-up was 74.9 per 100 000 person-years. Only 29.6% of the cases were diagnosed as a result of routine follow-up procedures.
Conclusions:
Enhanced passive case finding is likely to be more effective than active case finding for the control of TB among refugees.