Sex differences in tuberculosis infection and disease among people with HIV

Abstract

Objectives: Worldwide, adult men experience an excess burden of tuberculosis (TB) disease compared with women, but few studies have examined sex differences in TB among people with HIV. In this study, we aimed to investigate sex differences in TB infection and disease among people with HIV in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Design: Analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial and retrospective cohort study.

Methods: We analyzed data from two studies conducted between 2005 and 2017. The THRio Study (2005-2012) evaluated increasing tuberculin skin testing (TST) and TB preventive therapy (TPT), and Universal ART in Rio study (UnivART; 2010-2017) was a virtual cohort study of people with HIV and TB with data from four national electronic registries.

Results: Among 4606 people with HIV in THRio, 2992 (65.0%) had a TST placed and read, of whom 312 of 1865 (17%) males and 203 of 1127 (18%) females ( P = 0.37) had prevalent TB infection. TB disease incidence was higher among males compared with females overall [IRR 1.33, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.04-1.69], among males compared with females who did not receive TPT [incidence rate ratios (IRR) 1.30, 95% CI 1.01-1.67], and among males compared with females on ART (IRR 1.64, 95% CI 1.17-2.29). Among 54 957 people with HIV in UnivART, TB disease incidence rates were higher among males than females overall (IRR 1.28, 95% CI 1.18-1.39), among males compared with females on ART (IRR 1.58, 95% CI 1.40-1.77), and among males compared with females not on ART (IRR 1.11, 95% CI 0.99-1.25).

Conclusion: In this medium TB and HIV burden setting, TB disease incidence was higher among males than females with HIV, despite similar prevalence of TB infection.