Pulmonary tuberculosis and deprivation in hospitalised patients in Scotland

During the last decades tuberculosis re-emerged in almost all over the worl d, in both developed and developing countries. Many risk factors were impli cated to explain the re-emergences including the HIV epidemic. The aim of t he study was to explore if tuberculosis is related with poverty in Scotland utilising routinely collected hospital discharge data for patients with pu lmonary tuberculosis and postcode-derived Carstairs deprivation scores. The Carstairs and Morris index is composed of four indicators which were judge d to represent material disadvantage in the population. A positive correlat ion was found between the cumulative incidence rate for hospitalised patien ts within each Health Board and the Carstairs deprivation score (r = 0.76, p < 0.01). A similar correlation was found between the cumulative incidence rate and the deprivation scores within each postcode sector (r = 0.47, p < 0.0001). These results supports findings by other researchers that poverty and tuberculosis are related, and might be one explanation for the recent re-emergence of tuberculosis.