Tuberculosis trends in Türkiye in 2008-2019: A Joinpoint Regression Analysis

Objectives Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem globally. This study aimed to evaluate total new TB cases and the incidence rates of new TB cases in Türkiye between 2008 and 2019. Methods We used country data of Türkiye stored in World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global TB database. Annual notification rates per 100 000 population of new TB cases from Jan 1, 2008, to Dec 31, 2019 was calculated. We computed annual percentage changes of notification rates and identified time-points of significant change in trends using the joinpoint regression (JR) method. Results In total the incidence rate of new TB cases showed a significant decline in the study period. In the JR analysis of TB case rates according to age groups, significant decreasing trends were observed in all age ranges, while the lowest decrease rate of the trend was determined at -1.8% for those over 65 years of age. The JR analysis revealed that the incidence rates decreased in both males and females. While the incidence rate decreased from 24.7/100.000 in 2008 to 11.7/100,000 in 2019 among native TB cases in Türkiye, an increase was observed in the incidence rate in foreign-born cases from 0.2/100.000 in 2008 to 1.7/100.000 in 2019. Conclusions The results of this study showed that the incidence of TB had a downward trend between 2008-2019 in Türkiye. Greater efforts should be made to achieve the recommendation in the WHO End TB Strategy.