This innovative study analyzed a pharmacy dataset to assess the decline in TB cases reported to the US National Tuberculosis Surveillance System (NTSS) in 2020 and compared it with the average number of cases.

Before 2020, TB incidence decreased 2%–3% annually during the previous ten years.

These CDC researchers found 26.7%  fewer TB-related prescriptions and cases in 2020.

This decrease was considerable during April–May 2020.

Additionally, they found a strong correlation at the national level between NTSS case counts and isoniazid and pyrazinamide IQVIA projected patient counts, suggesting that isoniazid and pyrazinamide prescription data can serve as a proxy for trends in TB cases.