Background: Health care workers are at risk of contracting tuberculous infection in the workplace. A large portion of the current and recent risk to health care workers of tuberculous infection is the result of exposure to unsuspected cases of infectious tuberculosis or to exposure in circumstances of poor ventilation. Aim: To determine the prevalence of health care workers who become presumptive for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and their predictors from January 2015 to January 2019 at MCU-FDTMF Hospital. Design: This is a cohort, retrospective study done in a tertiary hospital. Methods: All healthcare workers who fit the inclusion criteria were included in the study. After securing informed consent, clinical characteristics of the respondents were identified, including age, gender, occupation, duration of employment and exposure to TB patients. Then they underwent history and physical examination by the researcher. Chest radiograph results of the respondents were also retrieved. Respondents were classified as presumptive versus non presumptive TB. Results: 10.5% of health care workers were classified as presumptive TB. Among which, only 16% had clinical features for TB (cough >2 weeks). The duration of employment was both significantly different (presumptive vs non presumptive) and significantly associated with presumptive TB. The age of workers with presumptive TB was significantly different from those without (41 years old versus 36 years old). There was a marginally significant result for occupation (nurses) as higher risk for presumptive TB. Conclusion: The prevalence of presumptive TB among healthcare workers was 10.5%. The strongest predictor for presumptive tuberculosis among healthcare workers is the duration employment.
ISSN 0031-7799 (Print)
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