[Characterization of tuberculosis cases in the foreign- and native-born population in Guipúzcoa (Spain) from...

To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of tuberculosis cases registered in Guipúzcoa and their management and to investigate possible differences depending on the country of origin of affected individuals.

We performed a population-based descriptive analysis of cases diagnosed from 2003 to 2007. Cases were drawn from the surveillance system, which incorporates an active information search in distinct sources. Incidences were calculated with the populations obtained from the Basque Institute of Statistics and the Ikuspegi-Basque Immigration Observatory. Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare categorical variables and the Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare means.

A total of 903 cases were registered, of which 94 corresponded to foreigners. During the study period, the mean incidence per 100,000 inhabitants was 86.3 for foreigners and 24.4 for native-born residents. No significant differences were found by gender, prior treatment, diagnostic delay, the microbiological tests performed or their results. Differences were found in age (foreigners were younger), contact tracing recommendation and its completion (less frequent in foreigners), treatment adherence (worse among foreigners), site of infection (more common in lymph nodes in foreigners) and risk factors (fewer chronic diseases in foreigners).

Foreigners with tuberculosis were younger and had fewer chronic diseases than native-born individuals with tuberculosis. Study of contacts and treatment adherence were less successful among foreigners. Providing the most suitable care for each patients is essential.