TB prevalence is higher among smokers

Population-based surveys are crucial for understanding smoking and TB epidemiology.A sub-national cross-sectional survey was conducted among individuals aged ≥15 years in 180 clusters in Southern India.Among 130,914 participants included for analysis, 117,091 were non-smokers, 5,410 were past smokers, and 8,413 were current smokers. Sixty-two (0.7%) participants in the current smoking group, 31 (0.6%) participants in the past smoking group, and 151 (0.1%) participants in the non-smoking group were diagnosed with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary TB (MCPTB). The crude prevalence ratio (cPR) of MCPTB in the smoking population was 4.33 (95% CI 3.30-5.68,