Making the invisible visible: the current face of tuberculosis in Detroit, Michigan, USA

Abstract

ABSTRACT To describe the socioeconomic inequities among individuals with tuberculosis (TB) in metropolitan Detroit. We used data from the TB Social Survey to examine socioeconomic and demographic characteristics among individuals diagnosed with TB in one of three metropolitan Detroit health departments. We then examined mean levels of both economic disadvantage and socioeconomic instability across levels of race/ethnicity, nativity, and health department. Sixty-seven percent of individuals with TB in Detroit City were non-Hispanic Black, compared to 27% and 25% in Oakland County and Wayne County (excluding Detroit), respectively. Non-Hispanic Blacks, U.S.-born individuals, and those living in Detroit City had higher mean levels of both economic disadvantage and socioeconomic instability compared to non-Hispanic Whites, foreign-born individuals and those living in Wayne (excluding Detroit City) or Oakland County. The findings from this study highlight the ways in which TB is distributed along lines of socioeconomic disadvantage. This suggests that enduring inequities in socioeconomic resources may be contributing to inequities in TB disease, a trend that likely to continue with worsening socioeconomic disparities in the U.S.