Compliance with Tuberculosis Screening in Irregular Immigrants

Francesca Bonvicini, Silvia Cilloni, Rossano Fornaciari, Carmen Casoni, Cristina Marchesi, Marina Greci, Lucia Monici, Fausto Nicolini and Marco Vinceti
Additional contact information
Francesca Bonvicini: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Silvia Cilloni: Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Metaboliche e Neuroscienze, Modena 41125, Italy
Rossano Fornaciari: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Carmen Casoni: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Cristina Marchesi: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Marina Greci: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Lucia Monici: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Fausto Nicolini: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy
Marco Vinceti: Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Metaboliche e Neuroscienze, Modena 41125, Italy

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem in many regions of the world, especially in the poorest areas. For this reason, screening for active and latent forms must be considered when dealing with high-risk groups such as irregular immigrants in Western countries. We conducted a retrospective cohort study by recruiting subjects aged ≥15 years who underwent a tuberculin skin test at a dedicated National Health Service Centre in a northern Italian province between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013. These participants were followed up until 31 December 2016. We aimed at evaluating an experimental protocol for active and latent tuberculosis screening, focusing on patient compliance, feasibility, and capability to detect clinical forms of the disease. We enrolled 368 irregular immigrants, i.e., immigrants not having a valid residence permit and who were therefore not entitled to choose a general practitioner. In total, 90.22% of these completed all the steps for the screening of active TB, while 87.33% also undertook screening for the latent form of the disease. Homelessness, self-reported prostitution, female sex, and employment status adversely affected compliance. Chronic alcohol consumption was associated with increased risk of no beginning or interruption of the procedures. All of the five patients with active TB successfully completed the treatment. Overall, adherence to the screening program was high compared to other studies in immigrants, possibly owing to organizational factors such as the availability of cultural mediators, the network between the different health services, the presence of dedicated nursing staff and a free-of-charge service. In addition, selected vulnerable subgroups should be targeted using tailored screening and follow-up programs.

Keywords: tuberculosis; screening for tuberculosis; public health; immigrants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/1/28/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/1/28/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2018:i:1:p:28-:d:192752

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().