The impact of covid-19 on tuberculosis diagnostic indicators: a systematic review on the path to 2030 goals
1
1Maternal and Child Health and Public Health Department, Ribeirão Preto School of Nursing, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2
3Departament of Nursing, Municipal University Centre of Franca (Uni-FACEF), Franca, Brazil
3
4Department of Clinical Medicine, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
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5 Departament Comunicable Diseases, Center of Epidemiological Surveillance in Sao Paulo State, Sao Paulo, Brazil
5
2Department of Mathematics, School of Science and Technology, Universidade de Évora,, Évora, Portugal
6
7Departament of Nursing, School of Nursing, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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6 Center for Infectious Disease and Nursing Innovation, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A1769
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The covid-19 pandemic severely impacted global health systems, diverting resources and weakening essential infrastructure for tuberculosis (TB) control. This crisis exacerbated social vulnerabilities, including increased poverty, unemployment, and barriers to healthcare access, while cultural and linguistic challenges marginalized groups of people facing such vulnerabilities (1). Furthermore, the clinical similarity between the symptoms of covid-19 and TB led to the prioritization of covid-19 testing, which may have reduced TB screening. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the repercussions of the covid-19 pandemic on TB diagnostic indicators(2,3).
METHODS:
A systematic review was conducted whose protocol number was registered in PROSPERO (CRD-42024511315), across five databases and Google Scholar, published between 2020-2024. Articles were selected by two independent reviewers, with a third reviewer resolving conflicts. Data were collected using a standardized form by one reviewer and checked by another. The data underwent narrative synthesis and the articles were subjected to methodological quality assessment.
RESULTS:
6378 publications were screened, and 23 temporal series studies were included. The review identified a consistent and significant global decline in the incidence, etiological detection/confirmation, and notification rates of TB worldwide. Regarding the assessment of methodological quality, the reliability of the measures was not considered by any study. Three studies presented fewer than three outcome measures studied in the period after the start of the pandemic, and another five studies showed weaknesses in their statistical analysis procedures.
CONCLUSIONS:
The pandemic has caused a severe decline in TB diagnosis indicators, fueling community transmission and reversing years of environmental progress in TB control. This threatens the World Health Organization's goal of eradicating TB by 2030. There is an urgent need to reorganize health services and implement recovery strategies, seeking to strengthen diagnostic networks and restore public health infrastructure, which are essential to mitigate the long-term epidemiological impact of the pandemic.
The covid-19 pandemic severely impacted global health systems, diverting resources and weakening essential infrastructure for tuberculosis (TB) control. This crisis exacerbated social vulnerabilities, including increased poverty, unemployment, and barriers to healthcare access, while cultural and linguistic challenges marginalized groups of people facing such vulnerabilities (1). Furthermore, the clinical similarity between the symptoms of covid-19 and TB led to the prioritization of covid-19 testing, which may have reduced TB screening. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the repercussions of the covid-19 pandemic on TB diagnostic indicators(2,3).
METHODS:
A systematic review was conducted whose protocol number was registered in PROSPERO (CRD-42024511315), across five databases and Google Scholar, published between 2020-2024. Articles were selected by two independent reviewers, with a third reviewer resolving conflicts. Data were collected using a standardized form by one reviewer and checked by another. The data underwent narrative synthesis and the articles were subjected to methodological quality assessment.
RESULTS:
6378 publications were screened, and 23 temporal series studies were included. The review identified a consistent and significant global decline in the incidence, etiological detection/confirmation, and notification rates of TB worldwide. Regarding the assessment of methodological quality, the reliability of the measures was not considered by any study. Three studies presented fewer than three outcome measures studied in the period after the start of the pandemic, and another five studies showed weaknesses in their statistical analysis procedures.
CONCLUSIONS:
The pandemic has caused a severe decline in TB diagnosis indicators, fueling community transmission and reversing years of environmental progress in TB control. This threatens the World Health Organization's goal of eradicating TB by 2030. There is an urgent need to reorganize health services and implement recovery strategies, seeking to strengthen diagnostic networks and restore public health infrastructure, which are essential to mitigate the long-term epidemiological impact of the pandemic.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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