An updated meta‐analysis on the association between tuberculosis and COVID‐19 severity and mortality

Active pulmonary tuberculosis and coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…These patients showed higher risk for mortality, but not for severe disease or hospitalization, than COVID-19 patients without tuberculosis. Our data synthesis summarizes far greater number of studies than previous meta-analyses and provides information both on tuberculosis frequency and COVID-19 outcome estimates [ 12 , 19 , 20 ]. Unlike previous meta-analyses that reported summary odds ratios, we present summary RR estimates for adverse clinical outcomes, which are much easier to interpret and understand in a clinical setting.…”

“…Tuberculosis was identified as the commonest comorbidity on verbal autopsy among 70 COVID-19 deaths, and in 10% of whole-body autopsies, in Zambia [ 17 , 18 ]. Two meta-analyses suggest higher odds of underlying tuberculosis among patients with severe COVID-19 and those dying from COVID-19 [ 19 , 20 ]. Due to these inconsistencies, we felt a need to perform a detailed analysis of the available evidence till date.…”

Lung health in Africa: challenges and opportunities in the context of COVID-19

“…We need to see if this projection will be confirmed as national TB programs carry out cohort analysis of treatment outcomes of persons diagnosed with TB in 2020 and 2021 (in the COVID-19 era) to allow for comparisons to be made with those diagnosed and placed on treatment in the pre-COVID period. Preliminary data from Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia suggest that TB treatment outcomes in the COVID-19 era were slightly better than in the pre-COVID-19 era ( 26 ).…”

“…Third, there have been concerns that persons with current or previous TB may have a worse COVID-19 disease clinical course than those without these conditions. The data so far suggests that this may be so ( 26 ), which is extremely worrying for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a large burden of TB, highlighting the need to develop robust mechanisms to protect these individuals from acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infections and consequently developing severe disease. Prioritizing these people in vaccination programs may be very helpful.…”

Time to regain lost ground: Tuberculosis in the COVID-19 era

“…Acknowledging this, the WHO, alongside others, has repeatedly emphasised the need to refocus on TB control [10]. Similar to TB, there is mounting evidence that COVID-19 may also aggravate health inequalities, that social determinants are comparable [11] and that their co-occurrence is linked to worse outcomes [12], supporting the notion of a syndemic [13]. Granular observational data, which describe changes in TB incidence, mortality and disease in different population groups and the incidence and outcomes of TB-COVID-19 coinfections, are urgently needed to improve understanding of the impact on TB control and identify lessons learned.…”