Ten-year experience of children with tuberculosis in southern Taiwan.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Data on the clinical characteristics of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) are limited. This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the demographic characteristics and clinical features of pediatric TB.

METHODS: The medical records of children with TB at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, between 1992 and 2002 were analyzed for demographic and clinical characteristics, and treatment regimens.

RESULTS: 103 children aged 0 to 14 years with probable or confirmed TB were enrolled. Ninety patients (87.4%) had pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and 13 (12.6%) had extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). The mean +/- standard deviation age of children with PTB and with EPTB was 6.0 +/- 4.2 years and 4.5 +/- 5.4 years, respectively. Household contact was the route of infection for 44.4% of patients with PTB and 7.7% of patients with EPTB. TB in children aged 0 to 4 years most commonly involved the lung (53.3%) or the extrapulmonary region (69.2%). Common symptoms of PTB were cough (81.1%) and fever (33.3%). The most frequent sites of pediatric EPTB were bone (n = 4) and cervical lymph nodes (n = 4). Tuberculin skin test (TST; >or=10 mm) was positive in 69.6% of children with PTB (55/79) and 37.5% of children with EPTB (3/8). Children with PTB had a lower positive acidfast bacilli rate (40.0%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture (27.8%). Eighty percent of patients infected through household contact had a positive TST.

CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged cough, household TB contact, and positive TST were characteristic factors for children with PTB in southern Taiwan. Young age was associated with high morbidity.