Control of tuberculosis in health service workers: the role of the chest radiograph.

Chest radiograph reports were reviewed retrospectively in 1994 new employees in the Leicestershire Health Authority to assess the use of this examination in detecting and preventing tuberculosis. No evidence suggestive of active tuberculosis was found in the cases reviewed indicating that the chest radiograph is of limited value. A discussion of these findings and a review of previous work suggests that a change in screening policy with the pre-employment chest radiograph performed only on selected groups would have no significant effect on the incidence of tuberculosis in staff or patients. The savings both in radiation exposure and financially would be considerable.