Underweight people at greater risk of TB
There appears to be an inverse correlation between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of tuberculosis, especially in the underweight population, a recent study has found.
Researchers conducted a large population-based cohort study
including more than 10 million individuals, whose data were
retrieved from the 2010–2017 database of the Korean
National Health Insurance.
Over more than 70 million
person-years of follow-up, 52,615 individuals developed active
TB, resulting in an incidence rate of 0.75 per 1,000
person-years. Multivariable Cox regression analysis found an
overall log-linear inverse correlation between BMI and the
incidence of tuberculosis, particularly in the BMI range
15–30 kg/m2.
For instance, those with BMI
<18.5 kg/m2 were more than twice as likely to contract
tuberculosis than normal-weight participants (adjusted hazard
ratio [HR], 2.08, 95 percent confidence interval [CI],
2.02–2.15). Meanwhile, the risk of tuberculosis was
approximately halved in overweight (adjusted HR, 0.56, 95
percent CI, 0.55–0.58) and obese (adjusted HR, 0.40, 95
percent CI, 0.39–0.41) individuals.
Of note,
the degree of thinness in the underweight population further
aggravated tuberculosis risk. Mild thinness was associated with
an adjusted HR of 1.98 (95 percent CI, 1.91–2.05), while
risk estimates were much higher for those with moderate
(adjusted HR, 2.50, 95 percent CI, 2.33–2.68) and severe
(adjusted HR, 2.83, 95 percent CI, 2.55–3.15) thinness
(ptrend<0.001).
Sci Rep
2022;12:16207
Source:
MIMS Respirology
