1. An evaluation of the completeness of reporting of childhood tuberculosis.
- Author
-
Teo SS, Alfaham M, Evans MR, Watson JM, Riordan A, Sonnenberg P, Clark J, Hayward A, Sharland M, Moore-Gillon J, Novelli V, Quinn D, and Shingadia D
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Antitubercular Agents therapeutic use, Child, Child, Preschool, England, Health Surveys, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, London, Northern Ireland, Population Surveillance methods, Public Health Informatics methods, Wales, Tuberculosis diagnosis, Tuberculosis epidemiology
- Abstract
The sensitivity of the Enhanced Tuberculosis Surveillance (ETS) scheme for monitoring tuberculosis in children is unknown. We used the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) reporting scheme to conduct a prospective observational study of tuberculosis in children aged <16 yrs in the UK. Reported cases were then matched with records from the ETS database. A total of 320 cases were reported to the BPSU between January and December 2004. We estimated that there were 557 paediatric cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2004: 222 (40%) cases reported to both BPSU and ETS, 98 (18%) reported to BPSU but not ETS and 237 (42%) reported to ETS but not BPSU. Children aged <5 yrs were significantly less likely to be reported to ETS compared with older children (p<0.01). There is substantial under-reporting of childhood tuberculosis, especially of children aged <5 yrs. ETS provides a representative picture of the demographics but may miss approximately 20% of cases. This should be taken into account when planning training and resource requirements for tuberculosis. Increased efforts are needed to ensure that all paediatric cases are reported to ETS.
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF