Objective: To describe the socio-epidemiological characteristics of Pediatric Tuberculosis (TB) ca ses, and aspects associated with its incidence, from 2005 to 2018, in North, Central, and South Metro politan Health Services of Chile.
Patients and method: Descriptive study with an ecological time se ries. We studied the incidence of annual global TB and according to age, sex, location of tuberculosis, bacteriological confirmation, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, country of origin, and effectiveness of anti-tuberculosis therapy. In addition, a correlation analysis was made between the incidence rate and the proportion of foreign cases.
Results: Between 2005 and 2018, 160 cases of TB were reported in children under 15, with a median age of 8 years, and 55% male. 56.2% corres ponded to Pulmonary TB, of which 65.6% were bacteriologically confirmed. The incidence rate in creased from 0.5 cases x 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, to 4.9 cases x 100,000 inhabitants in 2018. This last year concentrated 20.6% of the cases that occurred in 14 years of observation. The proportion of cases in foreign minors is still lower compared with the cases in Chilean children. A 91.3% success rate, 6.5% of cases transferred to other Services, and 2 deaths were also observed.
Conclusion: The results of this study show a serious epidemiological reemergence of TB. We recommend that control and eradication policies consider strategies focused on pediatric patients, aiming at actively screening for new cases and more efficient contact tracing.