A comparative study of the socio-economic risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis in Saharia tribe of Madhya Pradesh, India.

Rao, V.G.; Bhat, J.; Yadav, R.; Sharma, R.; Muniyandi, M.

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; 2018; 112(6); 272-278.

Background: To determine the socio-economic risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in the Saharia tribal community in Madhya Pradesh, Central India.

Methods: PTB cases detected during the year 2013–14 through a community active TB prevalence survey in the Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh were included in the study. For each case, three controls were selected randomly among the non-cases from the same village and the data on socio-economic risk factors were collected. Using logistic regression analysis, the risk factors for PTB disease were identi?ed.

Results: A total of 220 cases and 660 controls participated in the study. Of the 13 risk factors studied, on multivariate analysis the risk of PTB was found to be signi?cantly associated with malnutrition (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.02 [95% con?dence interval {CI} 1.46 to 2.79]), living in a kaccha (built of naturally occurring materials) house (AOR 2.72 [95% CI 1.44 to 5.11]) and tobacco smoking (mostly beedis; AOR 1.59 [95% CI 1.12 to 2.18]).

Conclusions: The ?ndings highlight that malnutrition, poor living conditions in a Kaccha house (built of naturally occurring materials) and tobacco smoking are the major risk factors for PTB among Saharias, which need to be studied among other tribal populations in the country. There is a need to strengthen health and nutrition programmes in this community.

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