Abstract
Recognition and epidemiological control of childhood and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) is essential to achieve effective control of TB in general as it presents high risk for transmission in the community. The aim of the study is to provide a descriptive and analytic overview of the trends in childhood and adolescent TB notifications and treatment outcomes and to identify factors associated with treatment success in a twelve-year period in Serbia. We performed a retrospective trend analysis and analysis of treatment outcomes of 596 child and adolescent TB cases notified in Serbia in the period 2005-2016 from all health facilities, as well as logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of treatment success. Factors independently associated with treatment success were: new TB (OR=2.60; 95% CI: 1.45-3.74), male sex (OR=2.55; 95% CI: 2.09-3.00), pulmonary TB (OR=3.34; 95% CI: 2.34-4.34), comorbidities (OR=2.58; 95% CI: 2.24-2.91), age below 5 years (OR=0.37; 95% CI: 0.32-0.43), and social vulnerability (OR=0.40; 95% CI: 0.34-0.46). In order to improve TB treatment outcomes among children and adolescent population in Serbia, it is important to focus on female, age group 5-18, EPTB, retreatment cases and socially vulnerable groups.
Highlights
Recognition and epidemiological control of childhood and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) is essential to achieve effective control of TB in general as it presents high risk for transmission in the community
In order to improve TB treatment outcomes among children and adolescent population in Serbia, it is important to focus on female, age group 5-18, Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), retreatment cases and socially vulnerable groups
We analyzed notified child and adolescent TB cases by age, sex, bacteriological confirmation, anatomical site of the disease, history of previous treatment, risk factors, HIV status, multidrug resistance and bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG)
Summary
Recognition and epidemiological control of childhood and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) is essential to achieve effective control of TB in general as it presents high risk for transmission in the community. The aim of the study is to provide a descriptive and analytic overview of the trends in childhood and adolescent TB notifications and treatment outcomes and to identify factors associated with treatment success in a twelve-year period in Serbia. Challenges in microbiological confirmation and clinical diagnosis in children often lead to missing cases, delayed and ineffective treatment, disease progression and increased risk of death [5]. Previous studies identified that risk factors for negative treatment outcomes in children with TB include HIV positivity [7,8], age below 5 years [7,9], low body weight [10], and smear positivity of the source of infection [11]. In the period 2005–2016, TB notification rate in Serbia decreased from 32 per 100,000 in 2005 to 11 per
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
