Impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis mortality in Japan: a retrospective analysis of national surveillance data from 2017 to 2022
Lisa Kawatsu, Kazuhiro Uchimura · 2026
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Description
Lisa Kawatsu and Kazuhiro Uchimura analyze, in a 2026 study, whether tuberculosis deaths in Japan rose during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted TB care worldwide, and Japan's TB burden sits mainly in older adults. The team used national surveillance records for every notified case from 2017 to 2022 and tracked TB death within a year of notice across three periods.
Death rates climbed from the pre-pandemic period to the Omicron period. The rise was driven by adults aged sixty-five and over, whose rate rose steeply. Adjusted models tied an Omicron-era diagnosis to higher death risk in that older group. Younger patients showed a like point estimate with wide uncertainty, so the authors warn against reading the age split as real. They urge stronger TB care paths for older adults and guarded services in future emergencies.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Lisa Kawatsu, Kazuhiro Uchimura |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 46574 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |