[Results of the Elderly Tuberculosis Screening Project 2022 in the Republic of Korea]

In 2022, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) implemented a tuberculosis (TB) screening initiative for older adults, aged over 65 years, who have a high incidence and mortality risk related to TB. The screening involved a survey, a chest X-ray test, and a sputum test. A total of 187,981 older adults had chest X-rays. Of these, 21,248 conducted sputum tests. In total, positive mycobacterial TB was detected in 132 older adults (70.2 per 100,000). This is approximately 2.2 times higher than the incidence of new TB patients (32.2 per 100,000) in 2022. General characteristics of priority screening recipients demonstrated that a high TB detection rate was associated with hypodermic and TB symptoms. General characteristics of second-priority screening recipients demonstrated a high TB detection rate in males, smokers, those with TB symptoms, and those with TB history. Furthermore, even when a chest X-ray indicated inactive TB, a TB confirmation test was conducted. From these, 91 of the 132 older adults with TB, 68.9% were confirmed to have inactive pulmonary TB. The KDCA established the Third Comprehensive Plan for Tuberculosis Management (2023-2027) to promote TB screening for high-risk groups, such as the elderly, to reduce the incidence and mortality risk from TB among the elderly.