(1) Background: Tuberculosis remains a public health problem in the world. This study evaluated the temporal trends, distribution, and spatial associations of drug-resistant tuberculosis in liberty-deprived populations in the state of Paraná, Brazil. (2) Methods: An ecological study was developed using all cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis in penal establishments reported by the Brazilian Notifiable Diseases Information System between 2008 and 2018. For the time trend, the Prais-Winsten method was used. To verify the spatial association, the Getis-Ord Gi* technique was used. (3) Results: During the study period, 653 cases of tuberculosis were reported in the studied population, of which 98 (15%) were drug-resistant. Prais-Winsten autoregression identified an increasing trend, with APC = 15.08% (95% CI: 0.02-0.09) from 2008 to 2018; when analyzed from 2012 to 2018, the trend increased even more, with APC = 23.31% (95% CI: 0.01-0.16). Hotspots were also noted in the north, east, and west macro-regions of the state. (4) Conclusions: The presence of drug-resistant tuberculosis, as well as an increasing trend of these cases, was evidenced in all regions of the state among liberty-deprived populations,. The spatial analysis revealed priority areas for drug-resistant tuberculosis in penal establishments.
Keywords: prisoners; public health; spatial analysis; time series studies; tuberculosis.