Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis infection in lung cancer patients and compare it with healthy individuals

Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Iran, with 10.5 and 1.5 per 100,000 in males and females, respectively. The study of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBi) in patients with lung cancer is significant due to the possibility of its activation during chemotherapy and increased mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of LTBi in patients with lung cancer with healthy individuals.
In this case-control study, which was performed from 2016 to 2017, 29 patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer and 40 healthy subjects were studied. Demographic data of all subjects were recorded in questionnaire. IGRAs (Quantiferon) were used to determine the LTBi.
The results of this study showed that prevalence of LTBi were 24.1% in lung cancer and 22.5% in the healthy group. The results of this study showed that smoking had a significant relationship with the risk of lung cancer and also LTBi infection in healthy people (p Since LTBi activates under chronic conditions such as malignancies, and because of high rates of LTBi in patients with lung cancer, it is recommended that screening for LTBi in high-risk individuals such as Lung cancer patients should be done before any treatment. Considering the role of smoking in lung cancer as well as the ability to develop LTBi in healthy people, attention to cessation of smoking in the health care program, prevention and treatment of pulmonary patients is recommended.