TUBERCULOSIS INCIDENCE IN NORTHERN-IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC-OF-IRELAND - A COLLABORATIVE STUDY

We examined the incidence of tuberculosis in the Republic of Ireland a nd Northern Ireland for 1991 using the Census of Population for both j urisdictions, data from a National Survey of Tuberculosis for 1991 for the Republic and examination of nominal notification data for Norther n Ireland. We showed that there is a significantly higher incidence of TB in the Republic of Ireland. More eases were reported (p<1.0x10(-7) ) as were more bacteriologically proven cases (p<1.0 x 10(-7)). The di fference was true for each of the following age groups (<15 years, 15- 35 years, 35-54 years and >55 years) but it is noteworthy that areas i n the Republic which make use of neonatal BCG vaccine did not have a s ignificantly different rate of tuberculosis for individuals less than 15 years (p = 0.34) compared to Northern Ireland.