A spatial-mechanistic model to estimate subnational tuberculosis burden with routinely collected data: An application...

Reliable subnational estimates of TB incidence would allow national policy makers to focus disease control resources in areas of highest need. We developed an approach for generating small area estimates of TB incidence, and the fraction of individuals missed by routine case detection, based on available notification and mortality data. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach by creating municipality-level burden estimates for Brazil. We developed a mathematical model describing the relationship between TB incidence and TB case notifications and deaths, allowing for known biases in each of these data sources. We embedded this model in a regression framework with spatial dependencies between local areas, and fitted the model to municipality-level case notifications and death records for Brazil during 2016-2018. We estimated outcomes for 5568 municipalities. Incidence rate ranged from 8.6 to 57.2 per 100,000 persons/year for 90% of municipalities, compared to 44.8 (95% UI: 43.3, 46.8) per 100,000 persons/year nationally. Incidence was concentrated geographically, with 1% of municipalities accounting for 50% of incident TB. The estimated fraction of incident TB cases receiving diagnosis and treatment ranged from 0.73 to 0.95 across municipalities (compared to 0.86 (0.82, 0.89) nationally), and the rate of untreated TB ranged from 0.8 to 72 cases per 100,000 persons/year (compared to 6.3 (4.8, 8.3) per 100,000 persons/year nationally). Granular disease burden estimates can be generated using routine data. These results reveal substantial subnational differences in disease burden and other metrics useful for designing high-impact TB control strategies.