Screening and diagnostic strategies for active pulmonary tuberculosis among people in prison in Malaysia: a prospective diagnostic study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends tuberculosis (TB) screening in prisons but data on specific strategies are lacking.

Methods

Men sequentially entering Kajang Prison, Malaysia's largest prison, underwent standardized WHO symptom screening (SS), chest X-ray (CXR), and c-reactive protein (CRP ≥5 mg/L) screening tests while acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smears and Xpert were diagnostic tests. The reference standard was culture. We defined three screening strategies and compared their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, receiver operator curves, and area under the curve (AUC).

Findings

We enrolled 588 people in prison, mean age 43 (range: 21-68) years, 60 (10.2%) with HIV, 493 (83.8%) with opioid use disorder,

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12648966 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature