Clinical profile of childhood Tuberculosis in a Tertiary Care Rural Hospital and comparision of efficacy of daily vs. intermittent chemotherapy

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem, despite noteworthy socio-economic development and advances in medical science. It is a curable disease but still millions of people suffer every year and a number of them die from this infectious disease, resulting in devastating social and economic impact. We report the disease course, clinical profile and factors associated with treatment outcome in a tertiary facility of Waghodia. Materials and methods: The study was carried out in the Department of Pediatrics at Dhiraj Hospital, Piparia. Recruitment took place from February 2014 to February 2015. The clinical profile of 71 patients was studied and patients were followed up to 6 months to evaluate the treatment outcome. Results: There was preponderance of males (60.56%, n=43) in study population as compared to females (39.44%, n=28). Most of the patients were belonging to age group of <6 years (32.4%, n=23) and >10 years (38.0%, n=27). Among 6 to 10 years, 21 (29.6%) patients were included in study. Most common form of TB was extra-pulmonary TB (60.56%, n=43) followed by pulmonary TB (39.43%, n=28). Non-specific symptoms like fever (82.5%, n=66) was the commonest presenting symptoms. Other symptoms included cough (33.8%, n=24), altered sensorium (19.71%, n=14), swelling (15.5%, n=11). From all the patient with follow up (n=50), 44 (88.0%) were cured. Conclusion: Diagnosis of paediatric tuberculosis still continues to be a challenge. In the study TB was more common in extra-pulmonary than pulmonary forms in our setting. Diagnosis was based on a combination of epidemiological and clinical suspicion supported by results of various investigations. Presence of paediatric TB is an indication of prevalence of TB in that community. Extra pulmonary tuberculosis is more common in pediatric population and comparison of daily vs. intermittent treatment shows similar efficacy.