UCSF

Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable infectious disease that confers significant morbidity, mortality, and psychosocial challenges. As TB incidence in the United States (U.S.) decreased from 9.7/100,000 to 2.2/100,000 from 1993 to 2020, the proportion of cases occurring among adults aged 65 and older increased. We conducted a review of published literature in the U.S. and other similar low-TB-burden settings to characterize the epidemiology and unique diagnostic challenges of TB in older adults. This narrative review also provides an overview of treatment characteristics, outcomes, and research gaps in this patient population. Older adults had a 30% higher likelihood of delayed TB diagnosis, with contributing factors such as acid-fast bacilli sputum smear-negative disease (56%) and non-classical clinical presentation. At least 90% of TB cases among older adults resulted from reactivation of latent TB infection (LTBI), but guidance around when to screen and treat LTBI in these patients is lacking. In addition, routine TB testing methods such as interferon-gamma release assays were two times more likely to have false-negative results among older adults. Advanced age was also often accompanied by complex comorbidities and impaired drug metabolism, increasing the risk of treatment failure (23%) and death (19%). A greater understanding of the unique factors of TB among older adults will inform clinical and public health efforts to improve outcomes in this complex patient population and TB control in the U.S.