Seasonality in extra-pulmonary tuberculosis notifications in Germany 2004-2014- a time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Seasonality in tuberculosis (TB) has been found in different parts of the world, showing a peak in spring/summer and a trough in autumn/winter. The evidence is less clear which factors drive seasonality. It was our aim to identify and evaluate seasonality in the notifications of TB in Germany, additionally investigating the possible variance of seasonality by disease site, sex and age group.

Methods

We conducted an integer-valued time series analysis using national surveillance data. We analysed the reported monthly numbers of started treatments between 2004 and 2014 for all notified TB cases and stratified by disease site, sex and age group.

Results

We detected seasonality in the extra-pulmonary TB cases (N = 11,219), with peaks in late spring/summer and t

SUBMITTER: Charles T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8025493 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature