[Problems in the formation of tuberculosis epidemiological parameters]

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Microbiology
• Public Health

Context:

• Analysis of 107,306 tuberculosis (TB) cases and relapses in the Russian Federation (RF).
• Evaluation of data completeness and validity against Russian Statistics Committee's form 8.
• Assessment of treatment efficacy and TB epidemic monitoring within RF health facilities.

Purpose:

• To analyze the prevalence of drug resistance (DR) and multidrug resistance (MDR) in new and relapsed TB cases in Russia.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of current TB reporting and diagnostic practices.
• To identify areas for improvement in TB surveillance and management.

Summary:

• Bacterial discharge observed in 33.3% (microscopy) to 44.9% (cultures) of new TB cases; cavities in 42.6%.
• Drug resistance (DR) detected in 30.6% of new cases and 45.4% of relapsed cases. Multidrug resistance (MDR) found in 11.4% of new cases and 24.7% of relapsed cases.
• Coverage for Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility testing was 76.3-83.1%. Detection rate of infectious patients in general facilities was low (12.5%).

Impact:

• Highlights the urgent need to improve TB reporting documentation (Order No. 50) for accurate epidemic evaluation.
• Stresses the necessity of uniform calculation rules for all RF reporting forms, especially for DR-TB indicators.
• Underscores the inadequate and variable efficiency of microbiological studies across RF federal districts, impacting patient management and control efforts.