Table 1. Factors affecting requesting tuberculosis-related tests: multivariate analysis

Ann Clin Microbiol 2025;28(4):20. Factors influencing microbial diagnostic testing for infectious diseases in Korea: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

Table 1. Factors affecting requesting tuberculosis-related tests: multivariate analysis

Characteristics	Variates	Total (n)	Incidence rate (%)	AFB smear			Mycobacterium culture			Molecular diagnostic test
Characteristics	Variates	Total (n)	Incidence rate (%)	OR	95% CI	P-value	OR	95% CI	P-value	OR	95% CI	P-value
Sex	Male	260,824	1.01	1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Sex	Female	421,374	1.64	0.535	0.518 – 0.553	<0.0001	0.533	0.516 – 0.550	<0.0001	0.522	0.505 – 0.540	<0.0001
Age (yr)	≤ 19	42,344	0.52	1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
	20-29	41,066	0.62	2.733	2.322 – 3.217	0.1562	2.637	2.245 – 3.098	0.2753	2.746	2.317 – 3.254	0.2527
	30-39	53,493	0.77	2.526	2.157 – 2.957	<0.0001	2.448	2.095 – 2.860	0.0005	2.715	2.305 – 3.197	0.0930
	40-49	69,234	0.85	2.772	2.379 – 3.230	0.1429	2.647	2.276 – 3.078	0.1679	2.862	2.441 – 3.356	0.8762
	50-59	110,809	1.29	3.007	2.591 – 3.491	0.0692	2.844	2.455 – 3.294	0.1385	3.008	2.576 – 3.514	0.0527
	60-69	152,864	2.11	3.092	2.667 – 3.585	0.0007	2.899	2.505 – 3.354	0.0099	2.925	2.507 – 3.414	0.4200
	70-79	134,527	3.73	3.698	3.187 – 4.291	<0.0001	3.411	2.946 – 3.949	<0.0001	3.484	2.984 – 4.069	<0.0001
	≥ 80	77,861	3.79	7.338	6.324 – 8.515	<0.0001	6.819	5.888 – 7.897	<0.0001	7.139	6.113 – 8.336	<0.0001
Insurance quintile	Medical benefits	51,784	3.40	1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
	1st	140,810	1.39	0.958	0.901 – 1.018	0.0468	0.978	0.918 – 1.040	0.0268	0.982	0.920 – 1.048	0.0201
	2nd	120,629	1.15	0.989	0.928 – 1.053	0.0002	1.009	0.946 – 1.075	<0.0001	0.995	0.931 – 1.064	0.0034
	3rd	148,033	1.17	0.925	0.870 – 0.983	0.8406	0.943	0.886 – 1.004	0.9962	0.960	0.900 – 1.024	0.3086
	4th	220,942	1.31	0.784	0.740 – 0.831	<0.0001	0.802	0.755 – 0.851	<0.0001	0.799	0.751 – 0.850	<0.0001
Residential area	Region 3	240,611	1.49	1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
	Region 2	156,328	1.21	0.848	0.814 – 0.884	0.0055	0.842	0.808 – 0.879	0.0001	0.888	0.851 – 0.928	0.4749
	Region 1	285,259	1.20	0.800	0.772 – 0.829	<0.0001	0.824	0.795 – 0.854	<0.0001	0.812	0.782 – 0.843	<0.0001
Disability	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Disability	Yes			0.899	0.862 – 0.937	<0.0001	0.904	0.866 – 0.944	<0.0001	0.904	0.865 – 0.945	<0.0001
Disease severity (CCI)	0			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
	1			1.205	1.137 – 1.278	0.9317	1.188	1.120 – 1.260	0.7244	1.164	1.095 – 1.238	0.1777
	2			1.289	1.212 – 1.372	<0.0001	1.278	1.200 – 1.360	0.0001	1.278	1.198 – 1.364	0.0001
	≥ 3			1.350	1.274 – 1.432	<0.0001	1.344	1.267 – 1.425	<0.0001	1.358	1.278 – 1.443	<0.0001
Types of medical institutions	Senior general hospitals			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
	General hospitals			0.779	0.753 – 0.806	<0.0001	0.778	0.752 – 0.806	<0.0001	0.848	0.819 – 0.879	<0.0001
	Hospitals			0.385	0.362 – 0.411	<0.0001	0.352	0.329 – 0.376	<0.0001	0.269	0.249 – 0.290	0.0893
	Clinics			0.014	0.012 – 0.015	<0.0001	0.013	0.012 – 0.014	<0.0001	0.013	0.012 – 0.014	<0.0001
	Nursing hospital			1.543	1.396 – 1.705	<0.0001	1.296	1.167 – 1.440	<0.0001	1.153	1.030 – 1.291	<0.0001
	Others^a)			0.084	0.054 – 0.129	<0.0001	0.069	0.043 – 0.112	<0.0001	0.063	0.037 – 0.107	<0.0001
Chemotherapy in solid cancer	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Chemotherapy in solid cancer	Yes			1.075	1.016 – 1.136	0.0114	1.080	1.021 – 1.143	0.0069	1.027	0.967 – 1.089	0.3854
Hematologic malignancy	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Hematologic malignancy	Yes			1.125	1.016 – 1.244	0.0233	1.149	1.038 – 1.271	0.0073	1.141	1.026 – 1.268	0.015
Organ transplantation	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Organ transplantation	Yes			1.269	1.082 – 1.490	0.0035	1.324	1.131 – 1.551	0.0005	1.149	0.967 – 1.367	0.1151
HIV infection	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
HIV infection	Yes			0.756	0.606 – 0.943	0.0133	0.791	0.637 – 0.984	0.0349	0.717	0.569 – 0.903	0.0047
Diabetes	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Diabetes	Yes			0.351	0.338 – 0.364	<0.0001	0.350	0.337 – 0.363	<0.0001	0.338	0.326 – 0.352	<0.0001
Alcoholic dependence	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Alcoholic dependence	Yes			1.735	1.542 – 1.952	<0.0001	1.738	1.543 – 1.957	<0.0001	1.671	1.475 – 1.892	<0.0001
Malnutrition	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Malnutrition	Yes			1.883	1.764 – 2.010	<0.0001	1.845	1.726 – 1.972	<0.0001	1.707	1.590 – 1.832	<0.0001
Steroid treatment	No			1	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	–
Steroid treatment	Yes			1.001	0.969 – 1.033	0.9636	0.996	0.964 – 1.029	0.8034	1.014	0.980 – 1.048	0.4228

Bold form: statistically significant.
^a)Others included dental hospitals, healthcare centers, child health centers, and oriental medicine clinics.
Abbreviations: AFB, acid-fast bacilli; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.