Screening asylum seekers for tuberculosis on entry to Germany
Citation: Bozorgmehr K, Razum O, Saure D, et al. Yield of active screening for tuberculosis among asylum seekers in Germany: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eurosurveillance. 2017;22(12):30491.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Nothing noted.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for empirical studies and grey literature on the yield of tuberculosis screening among asylum seekers upon entry into Germany. They searched in March 2016 for articles published in German or English. The authors included six articles (89,294 participants).
What was found: The authors found that the pooled number of people who tested positive for tuberculosis was 3.47 per 1,000 asylum seekers. The yield varied based on where the asylum seekers were from and which test was used. In a sensitivity analysis, the conservative estimate was 3.05 positive tests for tuberculosis per 1,000 asylum seekers.
Implications: Because screening for tuberculosis on entry to a country presents challenges for public health services, the authors recommended research to assess the yield of tests based on the asylum seeker’s country of origin. This would allow for a more targeted approach to screening when resources are limited and there is a high volume of asylum seekers to screen. There was also a need for health economic analyses of the efficacy of tuberculosis screening and its impact on health outcomes.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity
This summary was written by Isabelle Tahmazian, checked by Grace Meng and finalized by William Summerskill.