Mortality trends for tuberculosis in European Union countries, 2000–2010

Abstract Background The objective of this study was to update and analyze tuberculosis (TB) mortality data in the European Union between 2000 and 2010 separately for men and women and try to detect if there have been any changes in trends in each country and the association with the economic situation and inequalities. Methods Data were extracted for tuberculosis deaths in 2000–2010 for 29 European Union countries and for Switzerland, via the World Health Organization (WHO) European detailed mortality database (DMDB), using the Mortality tabulation list 1 (MTL1) codes for men and women separately for one age group (20–85+). We estimated age-standardised mortality rates, and analyzed data using the Joinpoint Regression Program for men and women separately in the European Union overall and by individual country for each year. Results Between 2000 and 2010, there were 68,771 recorded tuberculosis deaths in the European Union and the mortality rates were higher for men than women in the entire study zone. Overall, TB mortality rates declined linearly for both genders, but more in women than in men (from 5.43/100,000 in 2000 to 2.59/100,000 in 2010 in men and from 1.37/100,000 in 2000 to 0.51/100,000 in 2010 in women). There was decline in both genders for the entire study period, with a significant Estimated Annual Percentage Change (EAPC) of –8.1 for women and –7 for men when alpha < 0.05 and with a 95% confidence interval (CI). A higher tuberculosis mortality was associated with lower economic resources and greater inequalities. Conclusions TB mortality rates in the European Union decreased overall in 2000–2010 for both genders. Men have higher TB mortality rates than women in all countries. Our findings were consistent with the downward TB mortality trend in many other countries worldwide.