Tuberculosis and hypertension—a systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (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. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was performed to evaluate the evidence for an association between hypertension and TB. RESULTS: Three 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. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, 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.