ArticlePLOS global public health2024
Burden of tuberculosis in underserved populations in South Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predictive Analysis of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Integrating Molecular Markers, Clinical Governance, and Community-Engaged Education in Rural South Africa.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Vulnerable Groups in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2026Article
- Assessment of Patient Satisfaction with TB Care Services in Southern Afghanistan.Patient preference and adherence · 2026Article
- Implementation fidelity of tuberculosis screening for Diabetes mellitus patients among healthcare providers offering diabetes services in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Treatment Outcomes of Tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape: Clinical and Socio-Demographic Predictors from Two Rural Clinics.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Dolutegravir rollout for treatment of HIV with a focus on advanced disease and tuberculosis coinfection: findings from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (2019-2023).AIDS research and therapy · 2025Article
- Toward community-driven tuberculosis education: findings from a knowledge and engagement pilot survey in the rural community of Eastern Cape, South Africa.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Assessing awareness of latent tuberculosis infection: the urgent need for clinical governance-driven education in rural Eastern Cape - insights from a community-based study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Identifying case-finding strategies to reduce tuberculosis (TB) incidence in high-burden countries requires better knowledge of the disease burden in key contributing populations and settings. To inform South Africa's National Tuberculosis Strategic Plan 2023-2028, we conducted a systematic review of active TB disease and latent TB infection (LTBI) prevalence and incidence in underserved populations, defined as those living in informal settlements, townships, or impoverished communities. We identified articles published from January 2010 to December 2023, assessed study quality, and conducted a meta-analysis to estimate pooled TB and LTBI prevalence stratified by HIV status. We calculated prevalence ratios for underserved populations compared to the overall South African population. The search yielded 726 unique citations. We identified 22 studies reporting TB prevalence (n = 12), TB incidence (n = 5), LTBI prevalence (n = 5), and/or LTBI incidence (n = 2) eligible for the review, including six high-quality studies. Meta-analysis demonstrated a high prevalence of TB disease among persons living without HIV (2.7% 95% CI 0.1 to 8.5%) and persons living with HIV (PLWH) (22.7%, 95% CI 15.8 to 30.4%), but heterogeneity was high (I2 = 95.5% and 92.3%, p-value<0.00). LTBI prevalence was high among persons living without HIV (44.8%, 95% 42.5 to 47%) with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 14.6%, p-value = 0.31), and lower among PLWH (33%, 95% CI 22.6 to 44.4%) based on one study. Compared to the national average, underserved populations of persons living without HIV had a 4-fold higher TB prevalence and a 3.3-fold higher LTBI prevalence. Underserved PLWH had a 31-fold higher TB prevalence than the national average, but similar LTBI prevalence as measured in one study. Our findings illustrate that underserved populations in South Africa have a substantially higher TB and LTBI prevalence than the general population, making targeted TB interventions potentially beneficial. More research is needed to explore the heterogeneous TB epidemiology in South Africa.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.