Association between tuberculosis incidence and the human development index in 165 countries of the world

Objectives. Assess relationship between the Human Development Index (HDI) and the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in 165 countries in the World in the period 2005-2011. Materials and methods. An ecological study was done, using HDI data that were obtained from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the incidence rates from the Stop TB Program of the World Health Organization (WHO). The annual variation of the variables was assessed and non-linear regression models (Exponential), were done. Results. At the non-linear regression models, it was observed that the relationship between epidemiological and HDI was significant, those countries with higher rates presented lower values of HDI (p<0.01). Additionally the variation in time was significantly associated with HDI variation. Conclusions. This information reflect the significant influence of socioeconomical indicators such as the HDI on the TB incidence rates in the World, particularly in endemic countries, being an inverse relationship between both types of variables; with an increase or improvement in the HDI, the disease incidence rate decreased or it is found lower.