• Jyoti S Mathad, Ramesh Bhosale, Usha Balasubramanian, Savita Kanade, Vidya Mave, Nishi Suryavanshi, Nikhil Gupte, Samir Joshi, Ajay Chandanwale, Kathryn M Dupnik, Vandana Kulkarni, Prasad Deshpande, Daniel W Fitzgerald, and Amita Gupta.
• 1 Center for Global Health, Division of Infectious Diseases, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York.
• Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2016 Jun 15; 193 (12): 1421-8.

RationalePregnant women with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) are at high risk for development of TB, especially if infected with HIV.ObjectivesTo assess the performance of LTBI tests in pregnant and postpartum women infected with HIV, investigate the immunology behind discordance in pregnancy, and explore the implications for the development of postpartum TB.MethodsWe screened pregnant women in their second/third trimester and at delivery for LTBI using the tuberculin skin test (TST) and IFN-γ release assay (IGRA) (QuantiFERON Gold). A subset of antepartum women had longitudinal testing, with repeat testing at delivery and postpartum and additional cytokines measured from the IGRA supernatant. The kappa statistic and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to determine agreement and comparison of cytokine concentrations, respectively.Measurements And Main ResultsOf 252 enrolled, 71 (28%) women had a positive IGRA but only 27 (10%) had a positive TST (P < 0.005). There was 75% agreement (kappa, 0.25). When stratified by pregnancy versus delivery, 20% had IGRA(+)/TST(-) discordance at each time point. A positive IGRA was associated with known TB contact (odds ratio, 3.6; confidence interval, 1.2-11.1; P = 0.02). Compared with IGRA(+)/TST(+), women with IGRA(+)/TST(-) discordance had significantly less IFN-γ (1.85 vs. 3.48 IU/ml; P = 0.02) and IL-2 (46.17 vs. 84.03 pg/ml; P = 0.01). Five developed postpartum TB, of which three had IGRA(+)/TST(-) discordance during pregnancy.ConclusionsChoice of LTBI test in pregnant women infected with HIV affects results. Pregnant women with IGRA(+)/TST(-) discordance had less IFN-γ and IL-2 than those with concordant-positive results and may represent an especially high-risk subset for the development of active TB postpartum.

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