Social determinants and risk factors for tuberculosis in national surveillance systems in Europe.

SETTING

National tuberculosis programmes (NTPs) of the 53 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the social determinants and underlying risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) as routinely monitored by NTPs and to identify those feasible and appropriate to be included in the annual reporting to the joint European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) WHO reporting platform.

DESIGN

A semi-structured questionnaire sent to 53 national TB surveillance correspondents.

RESULTS

A total of 47 countries submitted questionnaires; most of the countries collect a number of social determinants and risk factors that are not requested for reporting to the Joint ECDC-WHO Reporting Platform. Occupation/employment, homelessness, diabetes mellitus and use of alcohol are collected by the majority of countries, but without standardised definitions.

CONCLUSIONS

Four social determinants/risk factors are already included in the national TB surveillance systems of the majority of countries and could be incorporated in the annual reporting to the Joint ECDC/WHO Reporting Platform. Standardised epidemiological case definitions need to be adopted.