Clinical profile of tuberculosis in children

Abstract

Aim: The study aimed to describe the clinical profile tuberculosis (TB) in children at various ages. Materials and Methods: Clinical profile of various types of TB and factors associated with them was compared. Results: A total of 135 children were diagnosed with TB in the study period. The mean age of the presentation was 5.3 ± 3.5 years. Common clinical features at presentation included fever in 112 (83%), cough in 63 (46.7%), and loss of appetite in 51 (37.8%). On biochemical evaluation, 72 (74.22%) of 97 records showed raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels. One hundred and twenty-one (89.6%) children had received Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination, 44 (32.6%) were found to be tuberculin skin test (TST) positive, and 58 (43%) were malnourished. On diagnosis, pulmonary TB was seen in 49 patients (36.3%), neuro TB in 20 (14.8%), TB lymphadenopathy in 12 (8.9%), abdominal TB, TB serositis and latent TB in 11 cases (8.2%) each, musculoskeletal involvement in 8 (5.9%) cases, and 6 (4.4%) showed disseminated form. The rest two of them were diagnosed with BCGosis and atypical mycobacterium infection. On statistical analysis, it was found that fever (P = 0.002) and raised ESR (P = 0.045) were least common in abdominal TB and disseminated TB, whereas loss of appetite was more common in disseminated TB and least in abdominal TB (P = 0.02). Conclusion: Pulmonary TB is the most common type of TB in children with boys more affected as compared to girls. TST is positive in less than half of the children with TB. Fever is the most common symptom of TB in children. In abdominal TB and disseminated TB, ESR was normal, and fever was absent. Loss of appetite is commonly seen in disseminated TB.

Keywords

• children
• risk factors
• tuberculosis