Clinical features of pediatric tuberculous pleurisy

Abstract

Objective To sum up the clinical manifestations and laboratory features for the diagnosis of pe-diatric tuberculous pleurisy, and to improve the recognition of this disease in early stage. Methods A retrospective study of 113 children diagnosed as tuberculous pleurisy from August 2006 to September 2014 in the Second Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University was conducted.Meanwhile, another 113 cases of children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia complicated with pleurisy were selected as control group.The general information, clinical symptoms, pleural effusion and imaging features between 2 groups were analyzed and compared by using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. Results The proportion of patients with cough in tuberculous pleurisy group and control group was 47.79% (54/113 cases) and 99.12% (112/113 cases) (χ2=76.33, P<0.01) respectively, and the proportion with severe cough was 3.70% (2/54 cases) and 97.32% (109/112 cases) (χ2=144.10, P<0.01), while the disease duration was 15.00 (10.00, 30.00)days and 10.00 (8.00, 14.50)days (W=8 668.00, P<0.01), respectively, and all the differences between 2 groups were significant.The proportion of patients with low fever, moderate fever, high fever and hyper fever was 8.65% (9/104 cases), 47.12% (49/104 cases), 44.23% (46/104 cases) and 0, respectively in tuberculous pleurisy group, while the proportion was 0.90% (1/111 cases), 18.92% (21/111 cases), 79.28% (88/111 cases) and 0.90% (1/111 cases) respectively in control group, and the difference between 2 groups was significant(W=9 064.00, P<0.01). The unilateral effusion ratio in tuberculous pleurisy group and the control group was 94.69% (107/113 cases) and 71.68% (81/113 cases), respectively (χ2=21.39, P<0.01). The monocyte ratio was higher in tuberculous pleurisy group [0.89(0.76, 0.93)] than that in the control group [0.60(0.30, 0.78)](W=888.50, P<0.01)and the level of protein in 2 groups was [51.00(47.35, 54.20)g/L] and [42.10 (37.85, 46.15)g/L], respectively (W=842.50, P<0.01). The level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in tuberculous pleurisy group[553.50 (358.00, 749.25)U/L] was lower than that in the control group[1 189.10 (670.95, 1 820.00) U/L] (W=2 186.00, P<0.01), and the differences were significant between 2 groups.In addition to pleural effusion, the high density was the main feature of imaging examination in 2 groups.The proportion of patients with atelectasis was 77.88% (88/113 cases) and 4.42%(5/113 cases)(χ2=125.90, P<0.01), while the proportion of patients with consolidation was 4.42% (5/113 cases) and 72.57% (82/113 cases), respectively (χ2=110.80, P<0.01). All the differences between 2 groups were significant.The sputum culture-positive rate of mycobacterium tuberculosis was only 1.77% (2/113 cases) and the other pathogen examinations were negative in tuberculous pleurisy group. Conclusions For patients with unilateral pleural effusion, when the onset only has fever (moderate-high fever), and respiratory symptoms are not clear or symptoms are not proportional to radiographic severity, or when high monocytes proportion(>0.70)in pleural effusion and radiographic evidence of compression atelectasis are observed, tuberculous pleurisy should be considered and further questioning of the predisposing factors, purified protein derivative test should be taken so as to diagnose the tuberculous pleurisy at early stage. Key words: Child; Tuberculous pleurisy; Diagnosis