Knowledge and Attitudes About Screening and Preventive Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among Patients with Rheumatic Diseases in Beijing, China.

Objective: Tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) is an important strategy for tuberculosis (TB) control. Rheumatic diseases (RD) patients are at high risk for active TB development. More researches are needed in terms of patient compliance in clinical practice. This study aims to explore the potential difficulties and obstacles in latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) screening and TPT in RD patients.

Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit RD outpatients who had indications for LTBI screening and TPT. All participants were given questionnaires on knowledge and attitudes regarding screening and preventive treatment of LTBI.

Results: Of the 200 RD patients, most people were aware that they were at increased risk of ATB due to their rheumatic disease and knew that TB was curable. The main association with willingness to have screening for LTBI was tertiary education ( = 0.013). The main association with willingness to take treatment for LTBI was a sense of personal risk and belief that the treatment would reduce risk of ATB ( < 0.001). More than half of the people surveyed could not accept taking 6 or more pills per day, while more than half of the patients could tolerate a treatment course of 9 months or longer. Most (65.4%) preferred their own rheumatologists to initiate treatment.

Conclusion: Educating RD patients about their individual risks of TB and the side effects of treatment, and educating/empowering rheumatologists to discuss these aspects with their patients and to offer LTBI screening and treatment, may help improve patients' compliance with LTBI screening and TPT.