Extraordinarily high incidence rates of tuberculosis among Greenlanders living in Denmark, 2006-2022

Many Greenlanders move from Greenland, a tuberculosis (TB) high-incidence country, to Denmark, a TB low-incidence country. Surprisingly, according to official statistics, the TB incidence among Greenlanders in Denmark is much higher than in Greenland.

This study investigates factors contributing to the extraordinarily high TB incidence among Greenlanders residing in Denmark.

Retrospective, register-based cohort study including all Greenlanders ≥18 years notified with TB in Denmark and Greenland, and Danes ≥18 years with TB in Denmark, 2006-2022. Demographic and microbiological characteristics were compared across groups using parametric and non-parametric statistical tests.

The TB incidence was extraordinarily high among Greenlanders in Denmark (341/100,000; n = 813), compared to Danes in Denmark (2/100,000; n = 1799) and Greenlanders in Greenland (149/100,000; n = 1088). Additionally, they were more often part of a TB cluster (75.6%) compared to Danes in Denmark (53.3%) and Greenlanders in Greenland (64.0%) and demonstrated very high rates of recurrent TB (23.9%), with 75.6% of cases being reinfections involving new Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.

TB poses a significant public health challenge for Greenlanders in Denmark. Their high incidence combined with elevated clustering and reinfection rates suggest substantial active TB transmission, and their cluster distribution indicates that many infections are locally acquired rather than reactivations of infection acquired in Greenland. Greenlanders with TB in Denmark are likely part of a socially marginalised minority with TB high-risk behaviours similar to Danes developing TB. These findings highlight the need for targeted TB prevention and control strategies for Greenlanders residing in Denmark.