Risk factors for infectiousness of patients with tuberculosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

We performed a systematic review and meta-analyses of studies assessing tuberculosis (TB) patient-related risk factors for transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Meta-analyses were conducted for sputum smear-positivity, lung cavitation and HIV seropositivity of index patients with both crude and adjusted odds ratios (AORs) pooled using random effect models. Thirty-seven studies were included in the review. We found that demographic characteristics such as age and sex were not significant risk factors, while behaviours such as smoking and alcohol intake were associated with infectiousness although inconsistently. Treatment delay of >28 days was a significant predictor of greate..