Abstract:

Objective To understand the acceptability and influencing factors for 12-week preventative treatment for close contacts with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), and to provide more evidence for the progressive promotion of preventive treatment measures in close contacts of tuberculosis (TB) patients in China. Methods A total of 1, 087 etiologically positive TB patients enrolled in the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” National Science and Technology Major Project (intervention on latent infected close contacts of TB patients) from Jan 1st, 2018 to Jan 15th, 2020 were selected, among whom 1033 cases aged 5 to 65 with LTBI were enrolled in this study. Informed consent and questionnaires were conducted to understand the acceptance rate and influencing factors for the 12-week preventative treatment regimen in these 1033 cases. The main contents of the questionnaire included the social demographic information of the close contacts with LTBI, the awareness of the knowledge of TB control and prevention, the history of TB exposure, the symptoms of the index cases, and whether they were willing to take preventive medicine. A total of 1033 questionnaires were valid with the effectively response rate of 100%. Acceptability of the 1033 cases was analyzed with Chi-square test and unconditional dichotomous logistic regression test. Results Among 1033 latent infected close contacts, 788 (76.28%) were willing to take preventive medicine. The risk factor was the family’s average annual income ≥16000 yuan (OR=0.42, 95%CI:0.27-0.67), and the protective factor was not living with the index case (OR=1.89, 95%CI:1.32-2.67). Conclusion Close contacts with LTBI are much willing to accept the 12-week preventive treatment regimen, which is affected by the family’s economic level and the degree of exposure to the index cases.

Key words: Tuberculosis,pulmonary, Contact tracing, Latent tuberculosis, Protective agents, Acceptability