PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Frank van Leth AU - Kirsten Evenblij AU - Ferdinand Wit AU - Albert Kiers AU - Herman Sprenger AU - Maurits Verhagen AU - Mariska Hillebregt AU - Nico Kalisvaart AU - Henrieke Schimmel AU - Annelies Verbon TI - TB-HIV co-infection in the Netherlands: estimating prevalence and under-reporting in national registration databases using a capture–recapture analysis AID - 10.1136/jech-2015-206680 DP - 2016 Jun 01 TA - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health PG - 556--560 VI - 70 IP - 6 4099 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/70/6/556.short 4100 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/70/6/556.full SO - J Epidemiol Community Health2016 Jun 01; 70 AB - Background Knowledge of the HIV status in patients with tuberculosis (TB) and vice versa is crucial for proper individual patient management, while knowledge of the prevalence of co-infection guides preventive and therapeutic strategies. The aim of the study was to assess if national disease databases on TB and HIV are adequate sources to provide this information.Methods A two way capture–recapture analysis to assess the completeness of the registers, and to obtain the prevalence of TB-HIV co-infection in the Netherlands in the years 2002–2012.Results HIV testing was performed in less than 50% of the patients with TB. Of the 932 TB-HIV infected patients, just 293 (31.4%) were registered in both registers. Under-reporting of TB-HIV co-infection ranged from 50% to 70% in the national TB register, and from 31% to 37% in the HIV database. Prevalence of TB-HIV co-infection in the Netherlands in 2012 was 7.1% (95% CI 6.0% to 8.3%), which was more than double of the prevalence estimated from the national TB database.Conclusions TB-HIV co-infection is markedly under-reported in national disease databases. There is an urgent need for improved registration and preferably a routine data exchange between the two surveillance systems.