What Patient Factors Predict Physicians ’ Decision Not to Treat Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Tuberculosis Contacts?

Objective: The study aimed to determine factors that are associated with physicians ’ decision to offer treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in contacts of patients with tuberculosis. Methods: We performed a nested case-control study in a cohort of contacts of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who had a tuberculin skin test (TST) $ 10 mm. Cases were those who were offered treatment for LTBI. Controls were randomly selected from those who were not offered treatment for LTBI by the reviewing physician. Odds ratios were estimated by multivariate logistic regression. Results: There were 195 cases and 279 controls. The following factors were significantly (positively or negatively) associated with being offered LTBI treatment in the multivariate analysis: female gender (OR 2.9; 95 % CI 1.6–5.5), TST conversion (O