Prevalence, acceptability, and cost of routine screening for pulmonary tuberculosis among pregnant women in Cotonou, Benin

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 2; p. e0264206
• Main Authors: Adjobimey, Mênonli, Ade, Serge, Wachinou, Prudence, Esse, Marius, Yaha, Lydia, Bekou, Wilfried, Campbell, Jonathon R, Toundoh, Narcisse, Adjibode, Omer, Attikpa, Geoffroy, Agodokpessi, Gildas, Affolabi, Dissou, Merle, Corinne S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 22.02.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acceptability; Adolescent; Adult; Benin; Biology and Life Sciences; Complications; Cost analysis; Costs and Cost Analysis; Cough; Data collection; Diagnosis; Evaluation; Feasibility; Female; Health aspects; Health care facilities; Health facilities; Health sciences; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Mass Screening - economics; Mass Screening - methods; Mass Screening - standards; Medical care, Cost of; Medical diagnosis; Medical screening; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Midwifery; People and Places; Population; Pregnancy; Pregnancy complications; Pregnancy Complications - epidemiology; Pregnant Women; Prenatal care; Prevalence; Pulmonary tuberculosis; Sample size; Screening; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Womens health; Benin; Zambia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264206

We sought to evaluate the yield, cost, feasibility, and acceptability of routine tuberculosis (TB) screening of pregnant women in Cotonou, Benin. Mixed-methods, cross-sectional study with a cost assessment. Eight participating health facilities in Cotonou, Benin. Consecutive pregnant women presenting for antenatal care at any participating site who were not in labor or currently being treated for TB from April 2017 to April 2018. Screening for the presence of TB symptoms by midwives and Xpert MTB/RIF for those with cough for at least two weeks. Semi-structured interviews with 14 midwives and 16 pregnant women about experiences with TB screening. Proportion of pregnant women with cough of at least two weeks and/or microbiologically confirmed TB. The cost per pregnant woman screened and per TB case diagnosed in 2019 USD from the health system perspective. Out of 4,070 pregnant women enrolled in the study, 94 (2.3%) had a cough for at least two weeks at the time of screening. The average (standard deviation) age of symptomatic women was 26 ± 5 years and 5 (5.3%) had HIV. Among the 94 symptomatic women, 2 (2.3%) had microbiologically confirmed TB for a TB prevalence of 49 per 100,000 (95% CI: 6 to 177 per 100,000) among pregnant women enrolled in the study. The average cost to screen one pregnant woman for TB was $1.12 USD and the cost per TB case diagnosed was $2271 USD. Thematic analysis suggested knowledge of TB complications in pregnancy was low, but that routine TB screening was acceptable to both midwives and pregnant women. Enhanced screening for TB among pregnant women is feasible, acceptable, and inexpensive per woman screened, however in this setting has suboptimal yield even if it can contribute to enhance TB case finding.