News 2026

Although about two-thirds of all tuberculosis cases worldwide occur in men, the reasons for this sex-specific inequality have so far been unclear. A recent study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine now provides new insights. An international research team led by Dr. Yohhei Hamada from University College London investigated whether men more frequently develop tuberculosis because they are more often infected with the bacteria or because they fall ill more often after infection.

An analysis of data from 11 prospective cohort studies with over 22,000 participants from 14 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America showed that men were more frequently infected with tuberculosis bacteria at the beginning of the studies than women. However, once infected, the risk of developing active tuberculosis was similarly high for both men and women. This suggests that the main reason for the higher disease rate in men lies in more frequent infections rather than a higher susceptibility after infection.

"These findings are an important step in better understanding the sex-specific differences in tuberculosis diseases," emphasizes Professor Christoph Lange, Medical Director of the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, and co-author of the study. "Next, we want to understand whether men are more easily infected or simply more exposed to tuberculosis bacteria," says Lange.

Reference:

Hamada Y, Surenthirarajah S, Gupta RK, Quartagno M, Acuna-Villaorduna C, Altet N, Diel R, Dominguez J, Floyd S, Gupta A, Jones-López EC, Lange C, van Leth F, Latorre Rueda I, Mave V, Muñoz L, Paradkar M, Sester M, Prasad H, Shanaube K, Sharma SK, Sloot R, Sotgiu G, Vashishtha R, Abubakar I, Rangaka MX. Sex differences in tuberculosis incidence: a pooled analysis of 11 prospective cohort studies. eClinicalMedicine 2026;99: 104146 https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.eclinm.2026. 104

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