Tuberculosis and hypertension-a systematic review of the literature

SummaryBackgroundTuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem in low- and middle-income countries, and in many of these countries, the burden of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension is rising. Knowledge about how these diseases influence each other is limited.MethodsA systematic review of the literature was performed to evaluate the evidence for an association between hypertension and TB.ResultsThree retrospective cohort studies, three case-control studies, eight cross-sectional studies, 12 case series, and 20 case reports exploring the association between hypertension and TB were included in the review. One cohort study found a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension among TB patients compared to controls. Cross-sectional studies reported a prevalence of hypertension in TB patients ranging from 0.7% to 38.3%. No studies were designed to assess whether hypertension is a risk factor for developing active TB.ConclusionsOverall, no evidence was found to support an association between TB and hypertension; however, the results of this review must be interpreted with caution due to the lack of properly designed studies.