Meteorological Factors Contribute to the Risk of Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Multicenter Study in Eastern China

Background: Most studies on associations between meteorological factors and tuberculosis (TB) were conducted in a single city, used different lag times, or merely explored the qualitative associations between meteorological factors and TB. Thus, we performed a multicenter study to quantitatively evaluate the effects of meteorological factors on the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).

Methods: We collected data on newly diagnosed PTB cases in 13 study sites in Jiangsu Province between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2019. Data on meteorological factors, air pollutants, and socioeconomic factors at these sites during the same period were also collected. We applied the generalized additive mixed model to estimate the associations between meteorological factors and PTB.

Results: There were 20,472 newly diagnosed PTB cases reported in the 13 study sites between 2014 and 2019. The median (interquartile range) weekly average temperature, weekly average wind speed, and weekly average relative humidity of these sites were 17.3 °C (8.0-24.1), 2.2 m/s (1.8-2.7), and 75.1% (67.1-82.0), respectively. In the single-meteorological-factor models, for a unit increase in weekly average temperature, weekly average wind speed, and weekly average relative humidity, the risk of PTB decreased by 0.9% [lag 0-13 weeks, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.5, -0.4], increased by 56.2% (lag 0-16 weeks, 95% CI: 32.6, 84.0) when average wind speed was <3 m/s, and decreased by 28.1% (lag 0-14 weeks, 95% CI: -39.2, -14.9) when average relative humidity was ≥72%, respectively. Moreover, the associations remained significant in the multi-meteorological-factor models.

Conclusions: Average temperature and average relative humidity (≥72%) are negatively associated with the risk of PTB. In contrast, average wind speed (<3 m/s) is positively related to the risk of PTB, suggesting that an environment with low temperature, relatively high wind speed, and low relative humidity is conducive to the transmission of PTB.