Selda Hancerli Torun, Ozan Uzunhan, Ayper Somer, Nuran Salman and Kaya Köksalan
Accepted manuscript online: 22 APR 2015 09:02AM EST | DOI: 10.1111/ped.12659
Pediatrics InternationalAim
Tuberculosis (TB) is an important worldwide ongoing health issue. To be able to control tuberculosis, one should not only cure active tuberculosis cases but also detect childhood tuberculosis infection patients who have the possibility of developing active disease in the future. Our aim in this study is to compare a century-old tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test which was developed as an alternative to TST and claimed to be superior to TST in several ways for diagnosis of TB in childhood.
Materials and Methods
Fifty three children with TB disease between 5 months and 17.5 years of age and 92 healthy children from the same age group with no risk factors for tuberculosis infection were recruited into the study. All children were performed TST and QFT-GIT test and their demographic, clinic and laboratory data were recorded. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 14.
Results
53 patients were diagnosed TB. The mean of age distribution of the patients was 8.5±4.3 years (ranged from 5 months-17.5 years). 41.7 % of the patients were females. 16 of 53 patients were confirmed by culture. QFT-GIT test was positive in 16 and TST was positive in 15 among 16 culture-confirmed TB disease children. The sensitivity of TST and QFT-GIT could be estimated 93.8% and 100.0%, and the specificity of TST and QFT-GIT could be estimated 100.0% and 97.8%, respectively. When the results of QFT-GIT and TST were compared among 53 TB disease children including cases without bacteriologically confirmation, QFT-GIT was positive in 33 children, and TST was positive in 44 children. The sensitivity of TST and QFT-GIT could be estimated 83.0% and 62.3%, and the specificity of TST and QFT-GIT could be estimated 100.0% and 97.8%, respectively.
Conclusion
Although positive QFT-GIT test result is very significant for TB, negative results will not exclude TB infection. TST and QFT-GIT are used together may provide more efficient results. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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