Results showed many advances in tuberculosis control in the 10 years analyzed, but it also points to serious obstacles that need to be solved so Brazil can eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem.

BackgroundAlthough the Brazilian national reporting system for tuberculosis cases (SINAN) has enormous potential to generate data for policy makers, formal assessments of treatment outcomes and other aspects of TB morbidity and mortality are not produced with enough depth and rigor. In particular, the effect of HIV status on these outcomes has not been fully explored, partly due to incomplete recording in the national database.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn a retrospective cohort study, we assessed TB treatment outcomes, including rates of cure, default, mortality, transfer and multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) among a purposively chosen sample of 161,481 new cases reported in SINAN between 2003 and 2008. The study population included all new cases reported in the six States with the highest level of completeness of the HIV status field in the system. These cases were mostly male (67%), white (62%), had pulmonary TB (79%) and a suspect chest X ray (83%). Treatment outcomes were best for those HIV negative cases and worst for those known HIV positive patients (cure rate of 85.7% and 55.7% respectively). In multivariate modeling, the risk of having an unfavorable outcome (all outcomes except cure) was 3.09 times higher for those HIV positive compared with those HIV negative (95% CI 3.02–3.16). The risk of death and default also increased with HIV positivity. The group without a known HIV status showed intermediate outcomes between the groups above, suggesting that this group includes some with HIV infection.ConclusionsHIV status played an important role in TB treatment outcomes in the study period. The outcomes observed in those with known HIV were poor and need to be improved. Those in the group with unknown HIV status indicate the need for wider HIV testing among new TB cases.

The authors confirmed Green Tobacco Sickness in southern Brazil; the authors recommend investigation of its prevalence in tobacco-growing regions and monitoring of and education about the disease and its prevention by occupational health authorities.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a melhoria da qualidade das informações sobre a tuberculose (TB), após a vinculação de registros e a correção do encerramento por meio do linkage probabilístico do Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN) com o Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade (SIM). Para a vinculação de registros foi realizado o linkage entre os registros do SINAN do Brasil, anos 2008 e 2009, com o objetivo de excluir as notificações não removidas pelas rotinas do SINAN realizadas por estados e municípios. As bases de dados foram construídas de acordo com o desfecho dos casos. Para o linkage entre SINAN e SIM foi utilizada a base de dados que resultou da vinculação de registros e os registros do SIM que mencionaram TB como causa básica ou associada, entre 2008 e 2010, no Brasil. A vinculação de registros diminuiu o percentual de casos novos com encerramento por transferência, com variação de 34,8% em 2008 e 35,5% em 2009. Após o linkage entre SINAN e SIM, o percentual de óbito por TB aumentou, com variação em torno de 15%. Os resultados descrevem uma situação de alerta no que se refere à qualidade dos dados de desfecho de tratamento de TB no SINAN.

The Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) enables knowledge of the profile of people with active tuberculosis (TB) in a country of continental dimensions such as Brazil. Available in all Brazilian municipalities and states, the system enables continuous consolidation of data, evaluation and monitoring of actions related to TB control in the country. The purpose of this paper is to present the specificities of SINAN-Net related to TB, including the follow-up screen, the record linkage and the follow-up report. Additionally, we describe the main variables and indicators and the challenges and limitations of the system.