Ab1351 Prevalence and the Risk Factors of Tuberculosis (Tb) Among Patients With Connective Tissue Disease in Malaysia: A Multi-Ethnic Study

Background: Patients with connective tissue disease (CTD) are at risk of opportunistic infection, including Tuberculosis (TB) due to the impaired immunity and exposure to the immunosuppressants. Tuberculosis remains as a major health threat in Malaysia but there is a scarce data on the prevalence and their associated factors among the multi-ethnic Malaysian CTD patients. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) among patients with CTD in Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and their associated risk factors. Methods: This study was a single-centre retrospective review study which included CTD patients who attended HCTM from January 2010 to June 2022. This study was conducted from February 2022 until September 2023 and has obtained ethics approval from UKM Medical Research Ethics Committee (FF-2022-032). Patients were identified from the HCTM International Centre of Casemix and Clinical Coding (ITCC), and from the Rheumatology unit database. Their medical records were retrieved and reviewed using convenient sampling method. Patients with TB infection at the onset or after the CTD diagnosis were categorized as TB group while patients who had never had TB were categorized as non-TB group. For TB group, the baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment and co-morbidities were censored at the time of TB diagnosis while for non-TB group, the data was collected until the last date of follow-up review. Pearson's chi square and Fisher's Exact test was performed for categorical variables while independent t- test and Mann-Whitney for continuous variable. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent factors associated with TB in CTD. Results: A total of 492 patients with CTD were included, which comprised of 231 (47%) SLE, 177 (36%) RA and 84 (17.1%) others. This multi-ethnic cohort consisted of majority Chinese patients (n=238, 48.4%), followed by Malay (n=184, 37.4%) and Indian 10. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: Meenakshi Alagappa @ Arunachalam: None declared, Syahrul Sazliyana Shaharir Novartis, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Astra Zeneca, Andrea Yu-Lin Ban: None declared, Azimatun Noor Aizuddin: None declared, Lydia Kamaruzaman: None declared, Najma Kori: None declared, Mohd Shahrir Mohamed Said: None declared, Sakthiswary Rajalingham: None declared.