Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia (Oct 2004)
Risco de infecção pelo Mycobacterium tuberculosis entre alunos da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Risk for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among medical students at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Faculdade de Medicina
Abstract
INTRODUÇÃO: Até o momento raros estudos prospectivos na América Latina demonstraram que estudantes de Medicina estão sob mais alto risco de apresentar conversão tuberculínica do que a população em geral (1,3%). OBJETIVO: Descrever a incidência acumulada de conversão tuberculínica e o risco relativo para tuberculose infecção entre estudante de Medicina. MÉTODO: Em 1.998, uma coorte prospectiva foi iniciada entre estudantes da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, negativos ao teste tuberculínico (INTRODUCTION: There have been few Latin American studies investigating the fact that the rate of tuberculosis (TB) infection among medical students is higher than the 1.3% rate seen in the population at large. OBJECTIVE: To describe the cumulative incidence and the relative risk for TB infection among medical students. METHOD: In 1998, a prospective cohort study was conducted involving medical students at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Faculdade de Medicina who tested negative (induration <10 mm) on the tuberculin skin test (TST). Students were tested using the two-step TST method and were retested one year later. The students tested were at two different stages in their training: pre-clinical (no contact with patients) and final year (contact with patients). Information about demographic characteristics, BCG vaccination history, and instances of potential exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis were obtained using a standardized questionnaire. Of the 575 students initially enrolled, 72% (414) completed the study. RESULTS: The TSTs of 16 (3.9%) of the 414 students converted, representing a cumulative incidence of 3.9% (95% confidence interval = 1.06 to 12.1). Senior medical students were at an almost fourfold higher risk for M. tuberculosis infection than were those in pre-clinical training. CONCLUSION: The risk for TST conversion is very high in this population.
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