Immigrants et tuberculose : données épidémiologiques récentes

Immigrants, and especially those recently arrived in host countries, are a high-risk group for tuberculosis. In 2006 in France, nearly half of the new cases of tuberculosis were reported in this group. The incidence rate among people born abroad was about seven times higher than that observed in people born in France (38.9/10⁵ vs 5.2/10⁵). The incidence was also the highest in districts with a high proportion of socioeconomically vulnerable population, such as Paris and greater Paris area. The characteristics of French born and non-French born cases differed. Patients born abroad were less likely to have pulmonary tuberculosis (68.2% vs 78.2; p < 0.001) and were more likely to live in institutions (such as migrant shelters) and to harbor multiresistant tuberculosis strains. A national tuberculosis control program was launched in France in 2007, to decrease the prevalence of tuberculosis in targeted populations.     

Workplace status and risk of hypertension among hourly and salaried aluminum manufacturing employees

An inverse relationship between workplace status and morbidity is well established; higher job status has been associated with reduced risks of heart disease, hypertension, and injury. Most research on job status, however, has focused on salaried populations, and it remains unclear whether job status operates similarly among hourly workers. Our objectives were to examine whether hourly status itself influences risk of hypertension after adjustment for socioeconomic confounders, and to explore the role of fine-scale job grade on hypertension incidence within hourly and salaried groups. We examined data for 14,999 aluminum manufacturing employees in 11 plants across the U.S., using logistic regression with adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity and other individual characteristics. Propensity score restriction was used to identify comparable groups of hourly and salaried employees, reducing confounding by sociodemographic characteristics. Job grade (coded 1 through 30, within hourly and salaried groups) was examined as a more refined measure of job status. Hourly status was associated with an increased risk of hypertension, after propensity restriction and adjustment for confounders. The observed effect of hourly status was stronger among women, although the propensity-restricted cohort was disproportionately male (96%). Among salaried workers, higher job grade was not consistently associated with decreased risk; among hourly employees, however, there was a significant trend, with higher job grades more protective against hypertension. Increasing the stringency of hypertension case criteria also increased the risk of severe or persistent hypertension for hourly employees.