Clinical profile of tuberculosis in children up to 5 years of age

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberculosis as a disease is of great public health problem in developing countries like India. Children contribute a significant proportion of disease burden and suffer from severe form of disease, but because of difficulty in establishing an accurate diagnosis, data of disease burden in pediatric population is lacking. This study is an attempt to assess clinical profile of tuberculosis in children upto 5 years of age. Method: present study was conducted at Kamla Raja Hospital & Gajra Raja Medical College Gwalior over a period of six months. 77 cases up to 5 years of age were selected from in-patient department, who were diagnosed to have tuberculosis. A detailed history of epidemiological factors including past history of infectious disease, history of contact contributing to disease state was recorded on predesigned Performa. Complete clinical examination and laboratory investigation was done to confirm the diagnosis. Result: approximately 70 % of study group was distributed in 2- 5 years of age group. Cases of CNS tuberculosis formed the main bulk to the study contributing 70.13% followed by intrathoracic (~16.88%), disseminated (6.49%), abdominal (5.19%) & lymphoid (1.29%) tuberculosis. Severe malnutrition, low socio economic status, illiteracy of parents were the important epidemiological factor affecting the disease status of child. Conclusion: childhood tuberculosis remained the neglected part in NTCP until RNTCP was introduced. Childhood cases have shown increasing trends with the advent of HIV infection. Prompt suspicion and early diagnosis can be an important step in controlling this epidemic.