Tuberculosis incidence in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland - a collaborative study

We examined the incidence of tuberculosis in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland for 1991 using the Census of Population for both jurisdictions, data from a National Survey of Tuberculosis for 1991 for the Republic and examination of nominal notification data for Northern Ireland. We showed that there is a significantly higher incidence of TB in the Republic of Ireland. More eases were reported (p<1.0x10(-7)) as were more bacteriologically proven cases (p<1.0 x 10(-7)). The difference was true for each of the following age groups (<15 years, 15-35 years, 35-54 years and >55 years) but it is noteworthy that areas in the Republic which make use of neonatal BCG vaccine did not have a significantly different rate of tuberculosis for individuals less than 15 years (p = 0.34) compared to Northern Ireland.