SynthesisGlobal health research and policy2025
Prevalence of Tuberculosis among migrants under national screening programs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Global health research and policy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in Malaysia: the first systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Oxandrolone for burn patients: a systematic review and updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials from 2005 to 2025.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2025Pooled it
- Tuberculosis disease and infection screening among migrants in the Netherlands 2019-2023: a national retrospective observational study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- A rare case report of acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis: Review of radiographic findings of pulmonary tuberculosis to enhance diagnosis accuracy.Respiratory medicine case reports · 2026Article
- Tuberculosis among foreign-born populations in the Western Pacific Region: emerging trends and analysis from 2008 to 2023.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Low treatment completion rates reveal gaps in the LTBI care cascade among university students.Frontiers in tuberculosis · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTuberculosis (TB) continues to pose a significant global public health threat, particularly among migrant populations. Screening policies exist in many receiving countries but differ markedly, and there is limited pooled evidence on TB and latent TB infection (LTBI) prevalence among migrants under different screening frameworks. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to synthesize TB and LTBI prevalence among migrants and compared national screening policies to inform evidence-based public health planning.
methodsPubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were searched for studies published 2016-2023. Random-effects models generated pooled prevalence estimates with 95% CIs; subgroup analyses examined differences by screening stage, migrant category, and country-of-origin incidence. Sensitivity analyses tested robustness. Government and health-agency websites were systematically examined and scored to table national TB-screening requirements.
results36 studies (26 TB, 21 LTBI) covering 40,738,331 migrants screened met inclusion criteria. The Pooled TB prevalence was 214.52/100,000 (95% CI 112.18-349.66) and LTBI prevalence 14.9% (95% CI 9.91-20.60). Countries employing both pre-entry screening and subsequent post-entry surveillance achieved the lowest TB prevalence (94.09/100,000). The highest burdens occurred among refugees/asylum seekers (439.25/100,000) and migrants from countries with TB incidence 300-499/100,000 (491.96/100,000). LTBI was most common when identified through post-entry screening (21.90%), those with multiple migrants (18.11%), and among migrants originating from countries with ≥ 500/100,000 TB incidence (30.90%). Policy comparison showed pre-entry screening is almost universal; the United States is the only country mandating systematic LTBI screening. Screening-scope scores were highest in traditional immigrant countries (16-20), intermediate in middle-income destinations such as China and Malaysia (10-14), and lowest in Nordic (4-8).
conclusionsThis study emphasizes the importance of targeted TB screening, especially for migrants from high-prevalence regions and at-risk populations. Comprehensive pre- and post-entry TB screening, along with strengthened latent TB screening and surveillance for diverse migrant populations, is essential. Meanwhile enhanced collaboration to update screening policies are key to achieving the goal of TB eradication and provide practical insights for effective TB control.
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