ArticleSouth African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care2026
Tuberculosis (TB) service utilisation pre and peri-COVID-19 restrictions in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
Article in South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTuberculosis (TB) has remained a significant public health challenge for many years. Individuals with weakened immune systems because of other illnesses are particularly vulnerable to contracting TB. In March 2020, South Africa implemented a disease control strategy which ceased and disrupted daily routines, including healthcare services delivery. The study aimed to determine and describe the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions on the utilisation of TB services, pre-COVID-19 and peri-COVID-19.
methodsA cross-sectional retrospective study using National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and National Department of Health (NDoH) data from Johannesburg, South Africa, was conducted to assess COVID-19 restrictions' impact on TB service use from January 2018 to December 2021, examining trends across periods and influencing factors. The study included individuals who sought TB services, showed TB symptoms, or tested positive or negative for TB during the study period.
resultsThe secondary data collected included children ( 10 years old), young adolescents (10-14 years old), older adolescents (15-19 years old), young adults (20-24 years old), adults (25-49 years old) and older adults (≥ 50 years old). Tuberculosis service use was highest among adult females aged 25-29 years old (51.3%) and lowest among females ≥ 50 years old (32.6%).
conclusionA marked decline in TB service use was observed during the peri-COVID-19 period. Results demonstrated that COVID-19 restrictions caused a substantial and sustained decline in TB service utilisation in Johannesburg, even when accounting for broader determinants of care-seeking.Contributions: This study provides valuable insight into the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on TB service utilisation and highlights the broader societal effects of a pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.