RESULTS OF A 29-STATE SURVEY OF TUBERCULOSIS IN NURSING-HOMES AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

A survey of the 15,379 cases of tuberculosis reported to the Centers f or Disease Control and Prevention by 29 State health departments in 19 84 and 1985 revealed that 7.7 percent of the victims older than age 64 were living in a nursing home at the time of diagnosis and 1.8 percen t between the ages of 15 and 64 were living in a correctional institut ion at the time of diagnosis. Incidence rates of tuberculosis for resi dents of nursing homes and for inmates of Federal and State prisons an d local jails were estimated using denominators derived from instituti onal population counts provided by the National Center for Health Stat istics and by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and Bureau of Prisons. The aggregate tuberculosis incidence rate for nursing home residents in the 29 States was 1.8 times higher than the rate seen in elderly persons who were living in the community (95 perc ent confidence interval on the relative risk 1.64, 2.02). The aggregat e tuberculosis incidence rate for inmates in correctional facilities w as 3.9 times higher than the rate for persons of a similar age who wer e not incarcerated (95 percent confidence interval on the relative ris k 3.35,4.49). Strengths and limitations of the design and implications of the first survey of tuberculosis incidence, in a large number of S tates, among residents of nursing homes and correctional facilities ar e discussed.