Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the association between social factors and spatial risk of TB in Thailand.
Material and Method: Ecological study and spatial statistics were employed to examine effects of social factors on agestandardized morbidity ratios of TB (SMR) in 76 provinces in Thailand during 2006-2009.
Results: The autoregressive model reveals similarity of TB risk in proximal areas (Moran’s I = 0.612; p<0.05). After adjusting for HIV epidemic and spatial autocorrelation (ρ = 0.581, p<0.001), a spatial autoregressive model revealed significant relationship of unemployment rate (β = 0.073) and household income (β = 0.134) to spatial risk of TB with variance of explanation 55%.
Conclusion: The present study indicated the area at risk of TB is in areas with high employment rate and household income, which are specific characteristics of an urban area. Therefore, in urban areas that are vulnerable to TB transmission, a development of specific TB surveillance and prevention and control programs is need.

Keywords: Spatial autoregressive model Socio-economic Ecological study