Establishing a European TB Database

Many low-incidence EU countries have a high TB burden in migrants from endemic countries. Migrant TB screening policies vary widely across EU countries.

This work package is establishing a multi-country database on migrant TB screening that will be used to inform the identification and harmonisation of cost-effective screening strategies in the EU.

Main objectives

To agree a protocol for sharing migrant data between countries on latent and active TB.
To establish a database on latent and active TB in screened migrants.
To collate multi-country data on migrants in low incidence countries in Europe aimed at informing early diagnosis of active and latent TB.

Webinar

We held an ERS webinar in November 2018 on the subject of about building a European migrant TB screening database. Participants heard short talks from the E-DETECT team and had the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers.

The programme was as follows:

Rationale, aim and process of setting up a multi-country migrant TB screening database: Knut Lönnroth
Examples of data on cascade of LTBI screening and management from England, Netherlands and Sweden:
- England: Dominik Zenner
- Netherlands: Ineke Spruijt
- Sweden: Joanna Nederby-Öhd
Data sharing principles, database operations and examples of preliminary cross-country analyses: Dee Menezes
Q&A

Watch our ERS webinar about building a European migrant TB database

Printable factsheet

Publications

October 2016 | abstract presented at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health, Liverpool: “Monitoring migrant LTBI screening – a comparative analysis of data sources for surveillance in selected European countries.” [view via Union 2016 website]
August 2017 | publication: “Tuberculosis and latent tuberculous infection screening of migrants in Europe: comparative analysis of policies, surveillance systems and results.” [view via PubMed website]
May 2018 | publication: “Towards tackling tuberculosis in vulnerable groups in the European Union: the E-DETECT TB consortium” [view via European Respiratory Journal website]
July 2018 | poster exhibited by Gerard de Vries, KNCV at AIDS 2018 Conference, Amsterdam [Download PDF]
December 2018 | E-DETECT TB acknowledged by the publication: “The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: the health of a world on the move” [view via UCL-Lancet Commission website]
March 2019 | publication: “Building a European database to gather multi-country evidence on active and latent TB screening for migrants” [view via International Journal of Infectious Diseases website]
May 2019 | publication: “Effectiveness of interventions for reducing TB incidence in countries with low TB incidence: a systematic review of reviews” [view via European Respiratory Review online]
August 2020 | publication: “Evaluation of the latent tuberculosis screening and treatment strategy for asylum seekers in Stockholm, Sweden 2015–2018 – a record linkage study of the care cascade” [view via European Respiratory Journal online]