TY - JOUR T1 - Alcohol consumption as a risk factor for tuberculosis: meta-analyses and burden of disease JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.00216-2017 VL - 50 IS - 1 SP - 1700216 AU - Sameer Imtiaz AU - Kevin D. Shield AU - Michael Roerecke AU - Andriy V. Samokhvalov AU - Knut Lönnroth AU - Jürgen Rehm Y1 - 2017/07/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/50/1/1700216.abstract N2 - Meta-analyses of alcohol use, alcohol dosage and alcohol-related problems as risk factors for tuberculosis incidence were undertaken. The global alcohol-attributable tuberculosis burden of disease was also re-estimated.Systematic searches were conducted, reference lists were reviewed and expert consultations were held to identify studies. Cohort and case-control studies were included if there were no temporal violations of exposure and outcome. Risk relations (RRs) were pooled by using categorical and dose-response meta-analyses. The alcohol-attributable tuberculosis burden of disease was estimated by using alcohol-attributable fractions.36 of 1108 studies were included. RRs for alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were 1.35 (95% CI 1.09–1.68; I2: 83%) and 3.33 (95% CI 2.14–5.19; 87%), respectively. Concerning alcohol dosage, tuberculosis risk rose as ethanol intake increased, with evidence of a threshold effect. Alcohol consumption caused 22.02 incident cases (95% CI 19.70–40.77) and 2.35 deaths (95% CI 2.05–4.79) per 100 000 people from tuberculosis in 2014. Alcohol-attributable tuberculosis incidence increased between 2000 and 2014 in most high tuberculosis burden countries, whereas mortality decreased.Alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis in all meta-analyses. It was consequently a major contributor to the tuberculosis burden of disease.Alcohol use, alcohol dosage and alcohol-related problems are associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis http://ow.ly/CheO30aPqJg ER -