Trends in Tuberculosis Mortality Across India: Improvements Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had significant health implications across the globe. India is a country that has faced a double burden of COVID-19 and tuberculosis (TB) since 2020. There is a need to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on tuberculosis control programs in India. Therefore, our study aimed to determine the changes in TB mortality across India between 2019 and 2021.

In our study, we described trends in TB and COVID-19 cases reported across India. Next, we compared death totals for TB between 2019, 2020, and 2021 in India at the national and state level. We considered total TB deaths, as well as deaths by TB for tribal populations, and for those living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Percent changes were calculated.

In 2020, compared to 2019, there was a 15.4% decrease in TB death totals, with 28 out of India's 36 states showing a decrease during this time period. While total deaths increased in 2021 compared to 2020, decreases did occur in 2021 compared to 2019. Deaths by TB for individuals living with HIV decreased by 16.0% across India. At a national level, there was a notable rise in TB deaths among tribal populations, though this was not universal across states.

While the majority of the world has seen an increase in new TB cases and TB deaths annually since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have instead been decreases in India during this time period. More research is required to understand the factors that have led to this decrease in TB deaths. Furthermore, additional allocation of resources is required to better support vulnerable populations in states where TB death totals have increased, especially among tribal populations.