The dynamics of incidence of active tuberculosis in children in Bukovina, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Ukraine remains one of the leaders in the global ranking of morbidity and mortality from tuberculosis (TB) and, according to WHO, ranks 5th in the world and 2nd in Europe according to these indicators. Objective — to analyze the regional features of the epidemiology of tuberculosis among children in the Chernivtsi region. Materials and methods. The medical records of all pediatric patients with newly diagnosed TB for the period from January 2020 to December 2022 in the Chernivtsi Regional Clinical TB Dispensary were analyzed. Statistical processing of the data obtained during the research was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics v. 26.0 program. Results and discussion. An analysis of the dynamics by years, when Ukraine was in lockdown due to COVID-19, revealed an increase in the incidence of TB among children under the age of 14 — by 2.7 times compared to 2021 and almost 8 times compared to 2020. 2 cases (25 %) of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, one of which (meningoencephalitis) had an unfavorable prognosis and resulted in death. Indicators of the tuberculosis situation in the Chernivtsi Region in the age group of 15—17 years showed an increase in TB in the percentage ratio of almost 2 times, with an even gender distribution (50 % each) compared to 2020 and 2021. Conclusions. In Bukovina, for the period from 2020 to 2022, increase in the incidence of tuberculosis among children (almost in 2 times) was registered. In 2022, in 100 % of cases, TB was detected during referral, and in children living in rural areas, the majority were girls (62.5 %). In 87.5 % of cases, the diagnosis was confirmed bacterioscopically, in 50 % of children the presence of contact with a tuberculosis source was determined, in 12.5 % there was no BCG vaccination, in 25 % of children MDR-TB was registered.