Abstract

Background

While the incidence of active tuberculosis (TB) in Canada is among the lowest in the world, the rates of TB among immigrants and Indigenous people remain high. In fact, the majority of new active TB cases are disproportionately found among immigrants. This study profiles TB-related acute care hospitalizations among new immigrants to Canada by selected characteristics.

Data and methods

This study is based on the 2000-to-2013 Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) linked to the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) from 2001/2002 to 2013/2014. It examines the timing of first TB-related acute care hospitalization occurring from the fiscal year 2001/2002 to the fiscal year 2013/2014 among immigrants who landed in Canada from 2000 to 2013 outside of Quebec and the territories. Mean and median hospital days and the percentage of total TB hospitalizations incurred by these new immigrants are calculated to measure the burden of hospital care among recent immigrants.

Results

From 2001/2002 to 2013/2014, 1,120 out of 2.7 million immigrants arriving between 2000 and 2013 were found to have, in total, 1,340 TB-related hospital discharges. The majority of cases (97%) were among immigrants from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) designated country list for TB, in which abour three quarters of the cases were from the World Health Organization (WHO) list of high TB-burden countries. Approximately half (45%) of immigrants hospitalized for TB were aged 18 to 34 at the time of hospitalization. Around 10% of all TB patients had been hospitalized before formally landing as immigrants. Mean and median length of hospital stay were 17 days and 11 days, respectively (22 days and 14 days, respectively, for the overall population in Canada). While new immigrants who landed between 2000 and 2013 represent 7% of the overall population of Canada, they incurred 17% of all TB-related hospital discharges occurring during this period.

Interpretation

This paper demonstrates the value of linked administrative data to understanding immigrant health and is important for future work in this area. Current immigration protocols surrounding TB involve screening for active pulmonary TB and identifying some migrants with latent TB. Results of this study, linking TB-related hospitalizations to immigrant landing files, provide unique information that can inform public health action, as well as migration policy and program development to contribute to the efforts to eliminate TB.

Keywords

Tuberculosis, immigrant health, health policy, health care utilization

Findings

Globally, tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for the largest number of deaths of any infectious disease, surpassing HIV and malaria combined. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new cases of active TB worldwide. Global targets and milestones for reducing the burden of TB have been established as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy. Recommendations for countries with low TB incidence, such as Canada, as well as the Government of Canada’s federal framework for action on TB, are directed at decreasing rates of TB in Canada. [Full Text]

Authors

Edward Ng (edward.ng@canada.ca) and Claudia Sanmartin are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. Dominique Elien Massenat and George Giovinazzo are with the Migration Health Branch, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. David Ponka is with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

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