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M47 Post-TB care in the UK: cross-sectional analysis from a national survey

thoraxjnl · 2025-11-02 · canonical JSON source

9 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Introduction Global research has shown high rates of morbidity among people who have previously experienced active tuberculosis (TB) disease. Guidelines in other countries now include standards for assessing and managing post-TB morbidity.Current UK guidance (NICE) does not include guidance around end of treatment assessment, and does not consider follow up after treatment for drug-susceptible TB to be cost effective due to low rates of relapse.We conducted a survey to understand current approaches to post-TB care among UK TB services.Methods We identified and contacted 135 TB services by liaising with key national stakeholders in all four nations.An e-survey was disseminated (February - May 2025) by email to specialists (Consultants and TB Nurses) representing TB services, with follow-up via reminder telephone calls and emails. We selected one response per service from the most senior clinician.Survey responses were analysed descriptively.Results Responses were received from 83.7% (113/135) of TB services.The majority had encountered patients with post-TB lung disease (82%; 93/113) and problems relating to social vulnerabilities (79%; 89/113) (table 1).End of treatment chest X-rays (for pulmonary TB, PTB) and symptom screening were reported by 98% (111/113) and 96% (108/113) of services. Few reported routinely offering pulmonary function testing after PTB (22%; 25/113) or screening for common comorbidities including diabetes (13%; 15/113) and cardiovascular risk (1%; 1/113).Fewer than half (41%; 46/113) reported providing medical care routinely after treatment and only 11% (12/113) ongoing psychosocial support. TB services routinely providing post-TB support offer this at the discretion of the individual clinician (51%; 27/53), both informally (38%; 20/53) and via specific clinics (36%; 19/53).The main reported challenges to providing post-TB care were resource-related, including limited healthcare staff (78%; 88/113), clinic capacity (70%; 79/113) and funding (59%; 67/113).Abstract M47 Table 1Survey responses among TB services in the UK to questions about post-TB morbidity, end of treatment assessments and challenges to providing post-TB care (n=113) Number of services (%) Reported types of post-TB morbidity encountered Post-TB Lung Disease 93 (82%) Post-TB cardiovascular and pericardial disease 20 (18%) Post-TB neurological morbidity 46 (41%) Problems with financial wellbeing 78 (69%) Problems with psychological wellbeing 75 (66%) Problems relating to social vulnerabilities 89 (79%) None of the above 5 (4%) Reported end of TB treatment assessments Symptom screen 111 (98%) Activities of daily living screen 55 (49%) Anxiety/depression screen 26 (23%) Cardiovascular risk screen e.g. QRISK 1 (1%) Pulmonary function testing (if PTB) 25 (22%) Chest X-ray (if PTB) 108 (96%) Diabetes screen 15 (13%) Asking about financial stability 48 (42%) Reported challenges to providing post-TB care Not applicable – not intending to improve or provide post-TB care 6 (5%) Lack of funding 67 (59%) Limited healthcare staff capacity 88 (78%) Limited clinic capacity e.g. space or availability of appointments 79 (70%) Lack of mention in guidelines 36 (32%) Lack of evidence supporting the need for post-TB services in the UK 46 (41%) Lack of evidence supporting the approach to care for post-TB morbidity 29 (26%) Lack of clinical expertise to manage post-TB morbidities 23 (20%) Lack of clear clinical need, within our patient population 23 (20%) Other 0 (%) Not sure 4 (4%) Discussion Specialists in TB services regularly encounter patients with physical and non-physical post-TB morbidity. Provision of post-TB care is currently limited and heterogenous in scope and delivery. There is interest in improving provision but resource-related challenges are a key limitation.There is a need to identify patterns of morbidity among UK TB survivors, to guide standards for clinical practice.