Postnatal women at higher risk of TB

Women are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) in the first six months following childbirth finds new research.

All women on the General Practice Research Database who were pregnant between 1996 and 2008 – 192,801 women with 264,136 pregnancies – were included in the study.

During this 12 year period, there were 177 TB cases confirmed among this group.

The researchers calculated that the rate of TB among pregnant and post natal women was 15.4 per 100,000 people, which is higher than the rate outside of pregnancy – 9.1 per 100,000.

Latest HPA figures found a total of 8,483 new cases of TB were reported in the UK in 2010.

Study author Dr Dominik Zenner, a consultant in public health at the HPA, said: “The aim of this study was to establish whether pregnancy increases the risk of TB and this was the first primary care based study to quantify the risk of TB during pregnancy and post pregnancy. Although we found a significantly increased risk of TB in the six months following pregnancy, but not during pregnancy, the risk during pregnancy is nonetheless likely to be increased. This is in keeping with the observation that pregnant women are disproportionally affected by other respiratory illnesses such as flu. “

The UK study between the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and the University of East Anglia has been published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Symptoms of TB include: Fever and night sweats, Persistent cough, Losing weight, Blood in your sputum (phlegm or spit) at any time.

The infection affects the lungs as is spread from person to person by coughs or sneezes.