Evaluation of “international transfer-out” among foreign-born pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Japan – what are the implications for a cross-border patient referral system?

Table 3 Relative risks for international transfer-out and lost to follow-up

	International transfer-out			Lost to follow-up
	Relative Risk	95% CI	P value	Relative Risk	95% CI	P value
Sex
Female	Reference
Male	1.54	1.21–1.97	< 0.01	0.83	0.63–1.09	0.18
Age groups (years)
0–24	Reference
25–54	0.71	0.54–0.93	0.01	1.32	0.94–1.86	0.11
54+	1.10	0.65–1.85	0.72	1.74	0.95–3.18	0.07
Occupational status
High school and university students	Reference
Full-time workers	3.01	2.14–4.23	< 0.01	1.33	0.90–1.95	0.15
Temporary employed/day workers	2.84	1.78–4.54	< 0.01	1.29	0.77–2.16	0.33
Unemployed	3.40	2.21–5.22	< 0.01	1.58	0.99–2.52	0.06
Others, including unknown	2.34	1.34–4.10	< 0.01	1.19	0.68–2.08	0.54
Time between entry to Japan and diagnosis (years)
10+	Reference
0–2	8.78	4.30–17.90	< 0.01	0.93	0.57–1.51	0.76
3–5	7.53	3.61–15.68	< 0.01	1.00	0.59–1.67	0.90
5–10	0.91	0.30–2.79	0.87	0.79	0.44–1.44	0.44
Unknown	3.70	1.84–7.43	< 0.01	0.79	0.52–1.19	0.26
Sputum smear
Negative	Reference
Positive	1.95	1.53–2.48	< 0.01	0.42	0.31–0.57	< 0.01
Not done/Unknown	1.55	0.62–3.85	0.35	1.83	0.84–3.99	0.13
Country of birth
Others	Reference
China	1.32	0.91–1.89	0.14	1.11	0.75–1.66	0.60
Indonesia	1.86	1.13–3.03	0.01	0.66	0.30–1.46	0.31
Korea	0.78	0.42–1.46	0.44	0.94	0.50–1.75	0.84
Nepal	0.28	0.12–0.63	< 0.01	1.02	0.54–1.90	0.96
Philippines	0.90	0.60–1.34	0.60	1.07	0.71–1.61	0.74
Thailand	1.40	0.62–3.12	0.42	2.19	1.08–4.41	0.03
Vietnam	1.53	0.96–2.43	0.07	1.11	0.63–1.94	0.72

ISSN: 1471-2458