Cost-effectiveness of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Screening before Immigration to Low-Incidence Countries
Emerging Infectious Diseases·
- DOI
- 10.3201/eid2504.171630
- PMID
- 30882302
- PMCID
- PMC6433018
- OpenAlex
- W2916003638
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The findings are positioned as evidence to inform policy decisions on preimmigration LTBI screening for migrants to low-incidence countries, alongside further research on sustainability, acceptability, and program implementation.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study examines whether mandated and sponsored preimmigration screening for latent tuberculosis infection in prospective migrants to low-incidence countries is cost-effective.
Study design
The analysis uses discrete event simulation modeling to evaluate preimmigration LTBI screening linked to postarrival follow-up and treatment, reporting cost per quality-adjusted life-year gained across migrants from countries with varying TB incidence.
Population and setting
The modeled population comprises prospective migrants to low-incidence countries, with Canada indicated in the classifier metadata as the geographic focus.
Main findings
Deterministic analysis favored preimmigration interferon-gamma release assay screening with postarrival rifampin treatment, and the authors report that this preimmigration LTBI screening approach was cost-effective across modeled migrant origin strata.
Public-health relevance
The findings are positioned as evidence to inform policy decisions on preimmigration LTBI screening for migrants to low-incidence countries, alongside further research on sustainability, acceptability, and program implementation.
Important limitations
No explicit limitations are stated in the supplied abstract. The summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata and requires the original paper for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
Within the GIDS literature-evidence workflow, this article is discoverable as a peer-reviewed modeling study on migrant TB screening policy and is indexed under diagnostics, treatment, and health-policy topics; it is not connected to any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.