Structured approaches for the screening and diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis in a high prevalence region of South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To measure agreement between nine structured approaches for diagnosing childhood tuberculosis; to quantify differences in the number of tuberculosis cases diagnosed with the different approaches, and to determine the distribution of cases in different categories of diagnostic certainty.

Methods

We investigated 1445 children aged < 2 years during a vaccine trial (2001-2006) in a rural South African community. Clinical, radiological and microbiological data were collected prospectively. Tuberculosis case status was determined using each of the nine diagnostic approaches. We calculated differences in case frequency and categorical agreement for binary (tuberculosis/not tuberculosis) outcomes using McNemar's test (with 95% confidence intervals, CIs) and Cohen's kappa c

SUBMITTER: Hatherill M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2855594 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature