Screening for pulmonary tuberculosis using chest radiography in new employees in an industrial park in Taiwan.

Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is prevalent in Taiwan, but it is suspected that its occurrence has been underestimated by the National TB Surveillance Program. A pre-employment health examination is mandated by law in Taiwan, providing a mechanism to assess the occurrence of TB more accurately.

Methods: A pre-employment TB screening program of an industrial park was used to evaluate the performance of the National TB Surveillance Program in Taiwan. The yields of the pre-employment TB screening, using chest radiography from July 2004 to June 2005, were compared with corresponding results of the National TB Surveillance Program.

Results: A total of 17,105 new employees with an even gender distribution (men:women ratio, 50.2%:49.8%) underwent screening during the study period. Among the participants, 22 (128.6 per 100,000) new patients with pulmonary TB were diagnosed, and 7 (31.8%) of the patients had positive bacteriology findings. Compared with the results of the National TB Surveillance Program, the pre-employment screening had a much higher yield (128 vs. 47 per 100,000, P<.001).

Conclusion: The yield of the active surveillance program through mandatory screening was much higher than that of the National TB Surveillance Program, which is a passive reporting system. The results of this study highlight the need for more active TB surveillance efforts in endemic areas like Taiwan.