Behavior of new tuberculosis cases in the state of Bahia: 2003 a 2022

Abstract

Bahia has a high tuberculosis burden and ranks sixth in Brazil and second in the Northeast in terms of the number of people infected with the disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior of new cases and incidence and mortality rates between 2003 and 2022.This is an ecological study using secondary data obtained from the System of Information on Notifiable Diseases whose variables of interest were: sex, age group, race/color, education, clinical form, associated conditions and case closure status. Statistical analyzes were performed using Pearson's chi-square test, Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. 105,188 new cases of tuberculosis of all clinical forms were diagnosed in Bahia and 2,514 deaths from the disease were recorded. The highest number of cases was in 2003 and the lowest in 2020, the first year of COVID-19 in Brazil. The same behavior was observed for the incidence rate. The highest proportion of new cases of tuberculosis was observed in male patients, aged between 20 and 39 years, mixed race, with incomplete primary education and presenting the pulmonary form of the disease. There was a significant association between the clinical form of tuberculosis and the variables gender, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, alcoholism, smoking, illicit drugs and case closure. It was observed that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of new cases of tuberculosis diagnosed and increased the mortality rate in 2021 and 2022, reversing the progress made so far in controlling the disease.