Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar;78(3):281-287.
doi: 10.1136/thorax-2022-219085. Epub 2022 Sep 15.

Reduced lung function and health-related quality of life after treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in Gambian children: a cross-sectional comparative study

Esin Nkereuwem  1   2 , Schadrac Agbla  3   4 , Azeezat Sallahdeen  5 , Olumuyiwa Owolabi  5 , Abdou K Sillah  5 , Monica Genekah  5 , Abdoulie Tunkara  5 , Sheriff Kandeh  5 , Maryama Jawara  5 , Lamin Saidy  6 , Andrew Bush  7   8 , Toyin Togun  5   2   9 , Beate Kampmann  5   2   10
Affiliations

Reduced lung function and health-related quality of life after treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in Gambian children: a cross-sectional comparative study

Esin Nkereuwem et al. Thorax. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Post-tuberculosis (post-TB) lung disease is an under-recognised consequence of pulmonary tuberculosis (pTB). We aimed to estimate the prevalence of residual lung function impairment and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children after pTB treatment completion.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional comparative study of children aged less than 15 years at TB diagnosis who had completed treatment for pTB at least 6 months previously with a comparator group of age-matched children without a history of pTB. Symptoms, spirometry and HRQoL measured with PedsQL scale were collected. Variables associated with lung function impairment were identified through logistic regression models.

Results: We enrolled 68 post-TB cases (median age 8.9 (IQR 7.2-11.2) years) and 91 children in the comparison group (11.5 (8.0-13.7) years). Spirometry from 52 (76.5%) post-TB cases and 89 (94.5%) of the comparison group met the quality criteria for acceptability and repeatability. Lung function impairment was present in 20/52 (38.5%) post-TB cases and 15/86 (17.4%) in the comparison group, p=0.009. Previous pTB and a history of chronic cough were significantly associated with the presence of lung function impairment (p=0.047 and 0.006 respectively). Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/FVC z-scores were significantly lower in the post-TB cases compared with the comparison group (p= <0.001, 0.014 and <0.001, respectively). The distribution of the self-reported physical health score, and parent-reported physical, emotional, psychological, social and total HRQoL scores were significantly lower in the post-TB cases compared with the comparison group.

Conclusions: Previous TB in children is associated with significantly impaired lung function and HRQoL.

Keywords: Clinical Epidemiology; Paediatric Lung Disaese; Respiratory Infection; Tuberculosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flowchart for selection of study participants. PTB, pulmonary TB.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization . Global tuberculosis report, 2021. Available: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240037021 [Accessed 30 Jun 2022].
    1. World Health Organization . Guidance for national tuberculosis programmes on the management of tuberculosis in children. 2nd ed, 2014. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241548748 - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Global tuberculosis report. Geneva; 2020.
    1. World Health Organization . Roadmap towards ending TB in children and adolescents, 2018. Available: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/275422 [Accessed 30 Jun 2022].
    1. Allwood BW, Byrne A, Meghji J, et al. . Post-tuberculosis lung disease: clinical review of an under-recognised global challenge. Respiration 2021;100:751–63. 10.1159/000512531 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types