Clinical profile of children with pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective: To study the clinical profile of pulmonary TB in children at various ages. Methods: Forty-five children with pulmonary TB who were referred over a period of 12 months were included in the study. Clinical profile of various types of pulmonary TB and factors associated with them were compared. Results: Mean age of presentation was 5.4 AE 3.7 years. Male:female ratio was 32:13. Common clinical features were fever in 36 (80%), cough in 30 (66.7%), loss of appetite and malnutrition in 18 (40%) patients each. Raised ESR was seen in 28 out of 35 (80%) patients. Forty-two (93.3%) children had received BCG vaccination and 22 out of 37 (59.5%) were tuberculin skin test (TST) positive. Primary complex was seen in 22 (48.9%) patients, primary progressive TB in 17 (37.8%) and cavitatory TB in 4 (8.9%) patients. Anemia (p ¼ 0.006) and thrombocytosis (p ¼ 0.024) was in patients with cavitatory lesions. Children 5 years had primary complex followed by primary progressive and then by cavitatory lesion (Odd's ratio: between primary complex vs primary progressive ¼ 1.56; primary complex vs cavitatory ¼ 15.35; primary progressive vs cavitatory ¼ 10.06). In children >5 years of age, it was found that cavitatory lesions was more commonly seen followed by primary progressive and then by primary complex (Odd's ratio between cavitatory and primary progressive ¼ 10.06; cavitatory vs primary complex ¼ 15.35; primary progressive vs primary complex ¼ 1.56). Conclusion: Primary complex is the commonest presentation of pulmonary TB. Primary complex is seen more commonly in children <5 years of age while cavitatory lesions are more commonly seen in children >5 years of age.

Clinical profile and outcome of children with tuberculosis in a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, India

“…The clinical findings in this study were similar to those found by Goyal et al 20 . Wheezing was seen as one of the presenting complaints in two children which was also seen in the study by Donald et al 18 .…”

“…Cavitation was seen in one child aged 12 years. In the study by Goyal et al 20 older children >5 years were found to have cavitatory lesions which was also found in this study. Cavities are associated with a higher mycobacterial load and can therefore pose a transmission risk 1 .…”

Health profile of paediatric tuberculosis patients on directly observed treatment short course therapy

“…In Anmol Goyal et al study patients presented similar symptoms which are comparable to the present study. 6 Similarly Sreeramareddy et al and S Shrestha et al observed similar symptoms in patients of their respective study. 7,8 We noticed history of contact with TB infection in 39% of patients while 61% had no history of contact with TB; a study conducted at ICH Chennai by Vijayasekaran et al has shown history of contact in 30.4% of patients, while Vimlesh seth et al study had shown positive contact history in 19% of children.…”

Clinical Profile of Pediatric Tuberculosis in a Tertiary Hospital in Northeast India: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Newly diagnosed cases in our study were 76.7% which was less than in other studies [ 20 , 24 ] probably because our study population included only children who were sick and referred for further management. TST could be traced in only 45 children from the total 150, out of which 18 (40%) had reactive skin test which was comparable with some studies [ 21 , 25 ] but less than others [ 5 , 7 , 18 , 23 ] likely because of the retrospective nature of our study and insufficient data. Malnutrition was seen in 45% of children which was similar to the finding by Goyal et al [ 25 ] even though their study population is less than 15 years, but this finding was less as compared to 93% by Thanvi et al [ 21 ], probably because our study population included older children as well upto the age of 18 years.…”