The epidomiology of childhood tubercolusis and clinical outcomes in South Africa 2008 - 2012.
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Date
2017
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Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) in children, particularly in those under five years is regarded as an indicator of
there being an infectious pool in the community. The World Health Organization (WHO) has
focused on childhood tuberculosis, recognizing its contribution to the overall TB burden and to
child survival. The Roadmap for Childhood Tuberculosis identifies the need to know the
incidence of childhood TB in order to design and implement specific public health interventions
to limit the spread of the disease and orientate health services in early TB detection, treatment
and retention in care to prevent on-going transmission.
Aim
The aim of this research is to investigate the epidemiology of childhood TB in South Africa (SA)
from 2008 to 2012 in order to inform TB control policy and practice.
Methods
An observational analytical cross sectional study design was used. The Electronic TB Register
was used as the source of the data. Records from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012 were
used. STATA and Excel were used to describe and analyse data.
Results
The proportion of children aged 0 to 14 years with TB in SA has fluctuated between 19.2% in
2008, reaching a high of 22.3% in 2009 and reducing to 18.8% in 2012. Testing children with
TB for HIV has increased steadily from 17.9% in 2008 to 68.5% in 2012. The HIV prevalence in
tested cases aged ten to fourteen years in 2012 was the highest at 42.6% with the lowest
prevalence found in the zero to four year age group in 2012 of 16.7%. In analysing treatment
outcomes, the children aged five to nine years had 21% (0.79) less risk of death compared to the
children less than 5 years whereas the age group ten to fourteen had 1.33 times the risk of death.
Description
Master of Medical Science in Public Health Medicine. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2017.