Association of Area-Based Socioeconomic Measures with Tuberculosis Incidence in California

Abstract

We assessed the association of area-based socio-economic status (SES) measures with tuberculosis (TB) incidence in California. We used TB disease data for 2012–2016 (n = 9901), population estimates, and SES measures to calculate incidence rates, rate ratios, and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) by SES and birth country. SES was measured by census tract and was categorized by quartiles for education, crowding, and the California Healthy Places Index (HPI)and by specific cutoffs for poverty. The lowest SES areas defined by education, crowding, poverty, and HPI had 39%, 40%, 41%, and 33% of TB cases respectively. SES level was inversely associated with TB incidence across all SES measures and birth countries. TB rates were 3.2 (95% CI 3.0–3.4), 2.1 (95% CI 1.9–2.2), 3.6 (95% CI 3.3–3.8), and 2.0 (95% CI 1.9–2.1) times higher in lowest SES areas vs. highest SES areas as defined by education, crowding, poverty and HPI respectively. Area-based SES measures are associated with TB incidence in California. This information could inform TB prevention efforts in terms of materials, partnerships, and prioritization.