• Fatih Üzer, Şükriye Öner, Yasin Gokmen, Ömer Yeşil, and Tülay Özdemir.
• Akdeniz University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
• Colomb Medica. 2022 Jul 1; 53 (3): e2015055e2015055.

BackgroundTuberculin skin test (TST) has played an essential in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) for nearly a century.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the general characteristics of patients tested with TST in a tertiary hospital within two years.MethodsAll patients who were evaluated to screen for tuberculosis and received a TST were included. The Mantoux method was used for TST administration.ResultsA total of 661 patients, 345 (52.2%) men and 316 (47.8%) women, with a mean age of 43.0 ±15.9 years, were included in the study. Accordingly, TST was performed prior to anti-TNF biological agent therapy for 50% (331) of the participants, for LTBI screening before solid organ and/or hematological stem cell transplantation for 20.4% (135), for screening following contact with tuberculosis for 25.1% (166), for screening of healthcare professionals for 1.1% (7), and medical report for 3.3% (22). 2.7% of the patients who took TST were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (14 with pulmonary tuberculosis and 4 with extrapulmonary tuberculosis). QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) test was performed in 332 (50.2%) patients with anergic TST results. According to TST and QFT test results, 28.3% (187) of the patients were started on tuberculosis prophylaxis.ConclusionWhile TST is most performed for LTBI screening prior to biological agent therapy, almost one-fourth of patients taking TST require tuberculosis prophylaxis. On the other hand, about half of the patients require an additional QFT test.Copyright © 2022 Colombia Medica.

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