Tuberculosis screening in the European migrant population: a scoping review of current practices.

Responding to a surge in new tuberculosis (TB) cases among migrants from high-incidence countries, low-incidence European nations have heeded World Health Organization recommendations by implementing TB screening in this population. This review aims to synthesise evidence on current screening strategies for active TB and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in European high-income countries, and their main barriers and interventions. PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus were searched from March to April 2023, including articles in English, published in the last decade, pertaining to screening strategies for active TB or LTBI in Europe focused on migrants, excluding those exclusively composed of refugees, asylum seekers or other migrant populations. 32 studies fit the criteria. Screening in migrants varies between countries regarding timing, population, screening location and diagnosis. Furthermore, some barriers prevent migrants from benefiting from screening, namely physical, cultural and professional barriers. Additional research is needed to determine the patterns through which regular migrants adhere to current screening strategies in European countries.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: S. Braga has nothing to disclose. M. Vieira reports grants or contracts from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, and consulting fees from Núcleo de Investigação em Pneumologia, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova Gaia/Espinho, all outside the submitted work. P. Barbosa reports grants or contracts from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), and the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), and consulting fees from Núcleo de Investigação em Pneumologia, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia e Espinho, all outside the submitted work. J.P. Ramos reports grants or contacts from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, and University of Porto Camara Municipal do Porto, and consulting fees from Núcleo de Investigação em Pneumologia, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova Gaia/Espinho, all outside the submitted work. R. Duarte reports grants or contracts from School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), and Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia e Espinho, outside the submitted work.
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