Public Health Reports
Volume 130, Issue 5, 2015, Pages 475-484

Transnational record linkage for tuberculosis surveillance and program evaluation (Article)

Aiona K.* , Lowenthal P. , Painter J.A. , Reves R. , Flood J. , Parker M. , Fu Y. , Wall K. , Walter N.D.
  • a Denver Public Health Department, Denver, CO, United States
  • b California Department of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Communicable Disease Control, Tuberculosis Control Branch, Richmond, CA, United States
  • c Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Health Branch, Atlanta, GA, United States
  • d Denver Public Health Department, Denver, CO, United States
  • e California Department of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Communicable Disease Control, Tuberculosis Control Branch, Richmond, CA, United States
  • f Denver Public Health Department, Denver, CO, United States
  • g University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health, Human Genetics Center and Division of Biostatistics, Houston, TX, United States
  • h Denver Public Health Department, Denver, CO, United States
  • i Denver Public Health Department, Denver, CO, United States, University of Colorado Denver, Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States

Abstract

Objective. Pre-immigration tuberculosis (TB) screening, followed by post-arrival rescreening during the first year, is critical to reducing TB among foreign-born people in the United States. However, existing U.S. public health surveillance is inadequate to monitor TB among immigrants during subsequent years. We developed and tested a novel method for ascertaining post-U.S.-arrival TB outcomes among high-TB-risk immigrant cohorts to improve surveillance. Methods. We used a probabilistic record linkage program to link pre-immigration screening records from U.S.-bound immigrants from the Philippines (n=422,593) and Vietnam (n=214,401) with the California TB registry during 2000–2010. We estimated sensitivity using Monte Carlo simulations to account for uncertainty in key inputs. Specificity was evaluated by using a time-stratified approach, which defined false-positives as TB records linked to pre-immigration screening records dated after the person had arrived in the United States. Results. TB was reported in 4,382 and 2,830 people born in the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively, in California during the study period. Of these TB cases, records for 973 and 452 cases of people born in the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively, were linked to pre-immigration screening records. Sensitivity and specificity of linkage were 89% (90% credible interval [CrI] 83, 97) and 100%, respectively, for the Philippines, and 90% (90% CrI 83, 98) and 99.9%, respectively, for Vietnam. Conclusion. Electronic linkage of pre-immigration screening records to a domestic TB registry was feasible, sensitive, and highly specific in two highpriority immigrant cohorts. Transnational record linkage can be used for program evaluation and routine monitoring of post-U.S.-arrival TB risk among immigrants, but requires interagency data sharing and collaboration. © 2015, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Vietnam immigrant Registries mass screening predictive value register Population Surveillance human epidemiology immigration statistics and numerical data controlled study Mycobacterium tuberculosis probability priority journal comparative study ethnology procedures United States Humans migrant Sputum California disease registry Computer simulation Tuberculosis, Pulmonary Viet Nam tuberculosis Emigrants and Immigrants electronic medical record medical record Medical Record Linkage diagnostic test accuracy study Monte Carlo Method sensitivity and specificity Article program evaluation major clinical study thorax radiography tuberculosis control outcome assessment microbiology Philippines Radiography, Thoracic health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84940374561&doi=10.1177%2f003335491513000511&partnerID=40&md5=835ee1808e3d706c05fdd943ebea335a
DOI: 10.1177/003335491513000511
ISSN: 00333549
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English