Extrapulmonary tuberculosis during the COVID-19 pandemic: features of detection and course

Background. COVID-19 pandemic caused by novel coronavirus has destabilized the world's health systems, revealing flaws in the organization of work in extreme conditions. Currently, there is limited empirical data on the impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis outcomes. Materials and methods. Non-interventional comparative retrospective cohort study of the structure of the incidence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts for the period 1999-2020 was carried out. Data of 13 852 patients were analyzed. Results. Of all 13 852 EPTB patients who were first diagnosed during the study period, the majority of cases (973) were registered in 1999, and the smallest number (550) - in 2017. Then, for 2 years, an increase in EPTB incidence was observed again (582 cases in 2018, and 563 cases in 2019) with a natural reduction by 18.5% in 2020 (459 cases). Over the first year of the COVID-19 epidemic, the incidence of central nervous system tuberculosis decreased by almost half (by 45.9%), the incidence of peripheral lymph nodes tuberculosis remained virtually unchanged, and the number of cases of "other" localizations, mainly abdominal tuberculosis, increased by 55.3%. Overall, in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, the detection of isolated forms of EPTB over the first year of the pandemic reduced by 18.5% (from 563 to 459 patients). A large variability of data was found across regions. Thus, in the Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Omsk regions there was a significant decrease in the number of patients diagnosed with isolated EPTB (by 30.2; 47.1 and 64.5%, respectively) while in the Kemerovo and Irkutsk regions, the number of patients with isolated EPTB increased (by 80.9 and 32.3%, respectively). Conclusion. COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on all services of national and global healthcare, the ultimate losses we have yet to calculate. Diagnostics of any diseases, and particularly EPTB, in the first year of the pandemic was difficult due to the restriction of patient visits to medical and preventive institutions, the closure or re-profiling of some of them, as well as a decrease in the number of specialists due to their selfisolation, re-profiling and COVID-19 disease. Nevertheless, the role of EPTB is still important.

COVID-19, extrapulmonary tuberculosis, COVID-19, urogenital tuberculosis, tuberculosis of bones and joints, morbidity, tuberculosis and COVID