Tuberculose em profissionais de saúde brasileiros (2013-2023)

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease frequently associated with urban centers and vulnerable populations, including healthcare workers. Declared a global emergency by the WHO in 1993, TB reached 7.5 million new cases in 2022, with Brazil being one of the most affected countries. Given the relationship between TB and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is essential to highlight the locations where TB stands out among the population of healthcare workers. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the temporal and spatial distribution of reported tuberculosis cases among healthcare workers in Brazil from 2013 to 2023. METHODS: An exploratory spatiotemporal ecological study was conducted, with Brazilian federative units as the units of analysis. The population consisted of reported cases of TB among healthcare workers. Data were obtained from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed, followed by Prais Winsten time series regression, geocoding, and spatial variation analysis using kernel density estimation. Finally, the findings were mapped. RESULTS: During the period, 10,247 cases of TB in healthcare workers were reported. Brazil shows an increasing trend with an annual increase of 36.4%. In the kernel density analysis, four states emerged as hotspots. CONCLUSION: Brazil shows an increasing temporal trend of TB cases among healthcare workers, and the spatial distribution is heterogeneous, with a higher risk in urban areas of the country, which are priority areas for planning targeted actions to address the disease.