title: Confirming the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children in Northern Portugal.
abstract: Childhood tuberculosis (TB) is difficult to diagnose and there are no standardised case definitions. TB records of patients aged >5 years reported in Northern Portugal between 2000 and 2009 were reviewed. Of the 116 children diagnosed with TB, 72 (62.1%) were male; the mean age was 2.2 ± 1.2 years. Of the 32 children (27.6%) with confirmed TB, only 46.7% had provided samples for culture, showing that little effort is made to obtain specimens for confirmation. We could not identify independent factors associated with the low rate of sample collection or anti-tuberculosis treatment without confirmation; chest radiography lesions were less frequent in children who began treatment without confirmation (adjusted OR 0.23, 95%CI 0.05-0.98).
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ladeira
authors.affiliation: Public Health Department, Administração Regional de Saúde do Norte, Oporto, Portugal.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Public Health Department, Administração Regional de Saúde do Norte, Oporto, Portugal.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Mathematics Center, Oporto University, Portugal.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaio
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duarte
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents