Objective
To estimate the prevalence of tuberculosis among incarcerated populations.
Method
A systematic review with meta-analysis was performed. The MEDLINE/PubMed, SciELO, and LILACS databases were searched for articles published from January 1997 to December 2016. The following search terms were used: (“tuberculosis”[MeSH] OR “tuberculosis”[TIAB]) AND (“prisons”[MeSH] OR “prisons”[TIAB]); or (“tuberculose” [DeCS] OU “tuberculose” [palavras] E “prisões” [DeCS] OU “prisões” [palavras]). The primary outcome was the prevalence of tuberculosis with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). In the metanalysis, variables associated with tuberculosis prevalence in incarcerated populations in the univariate analysis (P ≤ 0,20) were included in the final multivariate model.
Results
Based on the 29 studies included in the metanalysis, 2,163 prisoners with tuberculosis were identified. The combined prevalence of tuberculosis among prisoners was 2% (95%CI: 0.02-0.02). The prevalence among prisoners from countries with tuberculosis prevalence of 0-24 per 100,000 general population was below 1% (95%CI = 0.00-0.00). In countries with overall tuberculosis prevalence of 25-99/100,000, the estimate among prisoners was 3% (95%CI = 0.02-0.04); and in countries with overall prevalence ≥ 300/100 thousand, the estimated prevalence among prisoners was 8% (95%CI = 0.05-0.11).
Conclusion
The present results support the notion of a high prevalence of tuberculosis among incarcerated populations worldwide. The results also show a link between the prevalence of tuberculosis in the general and the prevalence of tuberculosis in prisons.