Table 4:
Demographic characteristics for immigrants included in immunologic analysis, January 2016 - November 2017, Boston
| Characteristic | All | No parasites |
B. hominis | Other protozoa |
Helminth | p-value† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n=68 (%)* | n=20 (%) | n=18 (%) | n=16 (%) | n=14 (%) | ||
| Mean age, years (SD) | 29.6 (13.6) | 31.4 (8.7) | 24.8 (15.0) | 25.1 (9.5) | 38.4 (17.5) | 0.01 |
| Age | ||||||
| Children (<18yo) | 13 (19.1) | 0 (0) | 7 (38.9) | 4 (25) | 2 (14.3) | 0.009 |
| Adults (≥18yo) | 55 (80.9) | 20 (100) | 11 (61.1) | 12 (75) | 12 (85.7) | |
| Time since arrival to US | ||||||
| <12 weeks | 48 (70.6) | 9 (45) | 17 (94.4) | 14 (87.5) | 8 (57.1) | 0.002 |
| ≥ 12 weeks | 20 (29.4) | 11 (55) | 1 (5.6) | 2 (12.5) | 6 (42.9) | |
| Sex | ||||||
| Male | 39 (57.4) | 11 (55) | 9 (50) | 9 (56.2) | 10 (71.4) | 0.66 |
| Female | 29 (42.6) | 9 (45) | 9 (50) | 7 (43.8) | 4 (28.6) | |
| BMI (N=67) | ||||||
| Underweight‡ | 3 (4.5) | 0 | 1 (5.6) | 1 (6.2) | 1 (7.7) | 0.85 |
| Normal weight | 28 (41.8) | 9 (45) | 7 (38.9) | 8 (50) | 4 (30.8) | |
| Overweight/Obese | 36 (53.7) | 11 (55) | 10 (55.6) | 7 (43.8) | 8 (61.5) | |
| Alcohol use (N=64) | ||||||
| Yes | 9 (14.1) | 3 (15) | 3 (17.6) | 1 (7.1) | 2 (15.4) | 0.89 |
| No | 55 (85.9) | 17 (85) | 14 (82.4) | 13 (92.9) | 11 (84.6) | |
| Tobacco use (N=66) | ||||||
| Yes | 5 (7.6) | 2 (10) | 1 (5.6) | 1 (6.7) | 1 (7.7) | 0.96 |
| No | 61 (92.4) | 18 (90) | 17 (94.4) | 14 (93.3) | 12 (92.3) | |
| WHO region | ||||||
| Africa | 20 (29.4) | 3 (15) | 5 (27.8) | 6 (37.5) | 6 (42.9) | 0.32 |
| Americas | 35 (51.5) | 14 (70) | 7 (38.9) | 8 (50) | 6 (42.9) | |
| Eastern Mediterranean | 13 (19.1) | 3 (15) | 6 (33.3) | 2 (12.5) | 2 (14.3) | |
| Europe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Southeast Asia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Western Pacific | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mean TB incidence, country of origin per 100,000 (SD)§ | 157 (79) | 185 (65) | 120 (91) | 184 (72) | 135 (71) | 0.09 |
| TB incidence, country of origin, cases per 100,000§ | ||||||
| <100/100,000 | 17 (25) | 2 (10) | 8 (44.4) | 2 (12.5) | 5 (35.7) | 0.19 |
| 100–200/100,000 | 33 (48.5) | 12 (60) | 6 (33.3) | 10 (62.5) | 5 (35.7) | |
| >200/100,000 | 18 (26.5) | 6 (30) | 4 (22.2) | 4 (25) | 4 (28.6) | |
| Pre-departure anti-helminthic treatment | ||||||
| Yes | 14 (20.6) | 0 | 5 (27.8) | 6 (37.5) | 3 (21.4) | 0.01 |
| No | 54 (79.4) | 20 (100) | 13 (72.2) | 10 (62.5) | 11 (78.6) | |
| HIV (N=61) | ||||||
| Yes | 3 (4.9) | 0 | 1 (5.9) | 1 (6.2) | 1 (11.1) | 0.47 |
| No | 58 (95.1) | 19 (100) | 16 (94.1) | 15 (93.8) | 8 (88.9) | |
| Pregnant¶ (N=63) | ||||||
| Yes | 2 (3.2) | 2 (11.1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.24 |
| No | 61 (96.8) | 16 (88.9) | 17 (100) | 16 (100) | 12 (100) | |
| Eosinophilia (N=63) | ||||||
| Yes (≥500 cells/μL) | 12 (19) | 1 (5.3) | 1 (5.6) | 2 (13.3) | 8 (72.7) | <0.0001 |
| No (<500 cells/μL) | 51 (81) | 18 (94.7) | 17 (94.4) | 13 (86.7) | 3 (27.3) | |
| Diabetes mellitus | ||||||
| Yes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- |
| No | 68 (100) | 20 (100) | 18 (100) | 16 (100) | 14 (100) | |
No. (%) unless otherwise indicated; for each variable with any missing data, total No. without missing data noted.
p-values indicate comparison between QGIT positive and QGIT negative individuals, using ANOVA for continuous, normally distributed variables (age), Kruskal-Wallis for continuous, non-normally distributed variables (TB incidence, absolute eosinophil count) and χ2 test for categorical variables.
For adults: underweight denotes BMI <18.5 kg/m2, normal weight 18.5–25 kg/m2, and overweight/obese >25 kg/m2. For children, underweight denotes CDC BMI percentile <5th percentile, normal 5th−85th percentile, and overweight >85th percentile by age and sex.
Denotes TB incidence by 2016 WHO statistics for primary country of residence prior to the United States, by cases per 100,000 population and divided into lower and higher categories of TB incidence (17).
By pregnancy test or diagnosis in medical record. Not pregnant indicates either negative pregnancy test or not a female of reproductive age (13–50 years). Women of reproductive age without documented negative pregnancy tests were considered as having missing data.
Abbreviations: QGIT QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube SD Standard Deviation BMI Body Mass Index WHO World Health Organization TB Tuberculosis HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus