Evaluation of Children with Tuberculosis: A 10-year Retrospective Study

Introduction: Childhood tuberculosis is a perspective that adult tuberculosis is not well controlled in the community. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical data of the cases we followed up with the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: The clinical data of the cases who admitted to the Pediatric Infection Clinic and Outpatient Clinic of our hospital between 2010 and 2020 and were diagnosed with tuberculosis were retrospectively analyzed. Approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Uludag University Medical Faculty with the decision no. 2020-5/3. Results: The mean age of 175 cases was 125 +/- 66,038 (median 132, 3-216) months, and 51% were female. 88% of the cases (n=154) live in Bursa and the majority of the admissions are from Osmangazi (n=41, 23.4%), Yildirim (n=40, 22.9%), Inegol (n=20, 11.5%) and Nilufer (n=19, 10.9%). Pulmonary tuberculosis was seen in 55% (n=96) of the cases, extrapulmonary tuberculosis in 42% (n=74), and pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis in 3% (n=5). 25.7% (n=45) of all cases had a history of contact with tuberculosis. 6.3% (n=11) of the cases had a history of taking prophylaxis before. Cough in 46% (n=81) of cases, fever in 29% (n=50), weight loss in 14% (n=24), night sweats in 13% (n=22), 5% (n=8) had complaints of hemoptysis. The mean sedimentation value of the cases was 36 +/- 28.85 (median 27. 5-140) mm/hour, and the mean CRP value was 16 +/- 41.94 (median 1. 1-258) mg/L. The tuberculin skin test was positive in 65% (n=114) of the cases. Mycobacter ARB (acid-resistant bacillus) was positive in 19% (n=27) and culture was positive in 18% (n=25) of the cases evaluated microbiologically (n=142). PCR was positive in 45% (n=47) of the 104 cases in which mycobacterial PCR was examined. Side effects were observed in 11% of the cases, and hepatotoxicity was observed most frequently (n=11, 6.3%). One patient died in the seventh month of treatment due to complications related to cystic fibrosis. Conclusion: Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and may result in mortality if left untreated. In this study, culture positivity was found to be 18%, and the most common side effect was hepatotoxicity.