Tuberculosis in Greenland - Time from first contact to diagnosis and treatment

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart for the study population.

Figure 2. Timeline of the diagnostic process with specified intervals.

Table 1. The characteristics of the 153 included patients with active TB

Variable	Total (n)	%	Towns (n)	%	Settlements (n)	%
Age
18–39	62	40.6	50	38.8	12	50.1
40–59	62	40.4	53	41.2	9	37.5
60+	29	19.0	26	20.2	3	12.5
total	153	100	129	100.2	24	100.1
Sex
Male	99	64.7	86	66.7	13	54.2
Female	54	35.3	43	33.3	11	45.8
Housing status
Institution	5	3.3	5	3.9	0	0.0
Homeless	10	6.6	9	7.0	1	4.2
Housed	138	90.2	115	89.1	23	95.8
Symptoms at first contact
Yes	126	82.4	110	85.3	16	66.7
no	27	17.6	19	14.7	8	33.3

Table 2. The diagnostic intervals for the 153 TB patients shown for all and divided into patients in towns and settlements

Population	n	Q1	Median	Q3	IQR	Min.	Max.	p-value
Total
All patients	153 (100%)	7	19	65	58	0	730
Symptomatic	126 (82.4%)	7	21	76.5	69.5	0	658	0.599
Asymptomatic	27 (17.6%)	6.5	14	24	17.5	0	730
Towns
All patients	129 (84.3%)	7	17	54	47	0	730
Symptomatic	110 (71.9%)	7	19	56.5	43.5	0	624	0.094
Asymptomatic	19 (12.4%)	1	9	24	23	0	730
Settlements
All patients	24 (15.7%)	13	45.5	103.5	90.5	4	658
Symptomatic	16 (10.5%)	16.5	88.5	156.5	140.5	4	658	0.050
Asymptomatic	8 (5.2%)	8	16	29.5	21.5	6	70

Figure 3. Boxplot depicting the total interval with median, quartiles, whiskers and outliers. Cases were considered as outliers if their data exceeded the 1^st or 3^rd quartile with 1.5 times the interquartile range.

Table 3. The total intervals for the 153 TB patients shown for all and divided into patients in towns and settlements

Population	n	Q1	Median	Q3	IQR	Min.	Max.	p-value
Total
All patients	153 (100%)	8	20	65	57	0	730
Symptomatic	126 (82.4%)	9	22.5	76.5	67.5	1	660	0.075
Asymptomatic	27 (17.6%)	8	17	25	17	0	730
Towns
All patients	129 (84.3%)	8	20	56	48	0	730
Symptomatic	110 (71.9%)	8	20.5	58.5	50.5	1	627	0.088
Asymptomatic	19 (12.4%)	2	10	25	23	0	730
Settlements
All patients	24 (15.7%)	14.5	47.5	105	90.5	4	660
Symptomatic	16 (10.5%)	17.5	90	157.5	140.5	4	660	0.086
Asymptomatic	8 (5.2%)	12.5	19	31.5	19	8	72

Table 4. The treatment intervals for the 153 TB patients shown for all and divided into patients in towns and settlements

Population	n	Q1	Median	Q3	IQR	Min.	Max.	p-value
Total
All patients	153 (100%)	0	1	1	1	0	35
Symptomatic	126 (82.4%)	0	1	1	1	0	35	0.098
Asymptomatic	27 (17.6%)	1	1	1	0	0	8
Towns
All patients	129 (84.3%)	0	1	1	1	0	35
Symptomatic	110 (71.9%)	0	1	1	1	0	35	0.517
Asymptomatic	19 (12.4%)	1	1	1	0	0	3
Settlements
All patients	24 (15.7%)	0.5	1	2	1.5	0	8
Symptomatic	16 (10.5%)	0	1	1.5	1.5	0	3	0.091
Asymptomatic	8 (5.2%)	1	2	2.5	1.5	0	8

Table 5. Time intervals from contact to chest imaging for the 153 TB patients shown for all and divided into patients in towns and settlements

Population	n	Q1	Median	Q3	IQR	Min.	Max.	p-value
Total
All patients	151 (100%)*	0	4	14	14	0	730
Symptomatic	124 (82.1%)	0	4	17.5	17.5	0	559	0.070
Asymptomatic	27 (17.9%)	0	1	8	8	0	730
Towns
All patients	128 (84.8%)	0	3	14	14	0	730
Symptomatic	109 (72.2%)	0	3	14	14	0	559	0.413
Asymptomatic	19 (12.6%)	0	1	8	8	0	730
Settlements
All patients	23 (15.2%)	3	9	78.5	75.5	0	335
Symptomatic	15 (9.9%)	7.5	49.5	88.5	81.5	3	335	0.002
Asymptomatic	8 (5.3%)	0	0.5	4.5	4.5	0	10

*Two cases in the symptomatic population (1 from the town population and 1 from the settlement population) had not undergone chest imaging before diagnosis, and were excluded from the analysis.

Table 6. Time intervals from contact to expectorate sample collection for the 153 TB patients shown for all and divided into patients in towns and settlements

Population	n	Q1	Median	Q3	IQR	Min.	Max.	p-value
Total
All patients	150 (100%)*	2	9	31.5	29.5	0	730
Symptomatic	123 (82%)	3	12	48	45	0	653	<0.001
Asymptomatic	27 (18%)	0	1	13	13	0	730
Towns
All patients	126 (84%)	2	8	27.5	25.5	0	730
Symptomatic	107 (71.3%)	2	10	31.5	29.5	0	625	0.032
Asymptomatic	19 (12.7%)	0	3	13.5	13.5	0	730
Settlements
All patients	24 (16%)	3.5	12.5	98.5	95	0	653
Symptomatic	16 (10.7%)	8	66.5	144.5	136.5	4	653	0.002
Asymptomatic	8 (5.3%)	0	0.5	4	4	0	64

*dates on expectorate sample collection were missing for 3 cases in the symptomatic town population