Beibei Qiu,1,* Zhengyuan Xu,1,2,* Ruifen Miao1,2 

1Department of Chronic Communicable Disease, Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Ruifen Miao, Department of Chronic Communicable Disease, Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 15850518935, Email ruifenmiao@126.com

Objective: The associations between meteorological factors, air pollutant indicators, and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) have not yet been confirmed. This study aimed to assess the association of meteorological factors, air pollutant indicators, and other factors with LTBI among college students.
Methods: We selected 5,193 freshmen randomly who originated from key tuberculosis areas in nine colleges in Nanjing. We ranked the importance of independent variables using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression and random forest models. We then conducted a multi-model analysis after incorporating them into the prediction model. In addition, we adopted a calibration curve to determine the quality of the model. A nomogram was used to evaluate the possibility of using multiple models to predict LTBI risk.
Results: We found that higher outdoor PM10 concentrations (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.10– 1.65) was associated with LTBI. A history of allergies (OR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.16– 1.62) and coal-based fuels (OR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.11– 1.87) had a positive correlation with the occurrence of LTBI. Taking vitamin D supplements (OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.69– 0.98) could reduce the risk of LTBI. Besides, age (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.00– 1.22) were significantly associated with strong positive populations.
Conclusion: Higher outdoor PM10 concentration, history of allergies, and use of coal-based fuels were positively correlated with the occurrence of LTBI. Vitamin D supplementation might reduce the risk of LTBI. Besides, older people were more likely to contribute to strong positive results.

Keywords: latent tuberculosis infection, PM10, vitamin D, household fuel, allergy