Factors associated with tuberculosis in children aged 0-14 years at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital in Ndola, Zambia

Abstract

Background: Paediatric tuberculosis (TB) has been overlooked because of challenges of diagnosing it and lower priority afforded to children by TB
programs, as a result, both research and surveillance data in TB is greatly limited. The aim of this study was to determine factors associated with TB and its trends in children aged 0 to 14 years attended to at ADCH in Ndola, Zambia
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted where 97 files of TB patients at ADCH diagnosed bacteriologically or clinically for the years June
2016 to June 2018 were reviewed using a standardized checklist. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 23.
Results: A total of 78.4% were definite TB cases, 57.7% were males and 40.2% were aged 8 years and more. More than a third (33.0%) of patients had
positive TB contact from family, 40.2% had HIV coinfection, 25.0% had malnutrition and Pulmonary TB was the most (51.5%) prevalent type.
Conclusion and recommendation: Age, TB contact from an adult, HIV co-infection and malnutrition are important risk factors of paediatric TB. Therefore, any paediatric patient with these factors should be considered at risk of having TB and require very thorough examination to rule out
the presence of TB.