Feasibility of the string test for tuberculosis diagnosis in children between 4 and 14 years old

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 1 Characteristics of 148 children (ages 4 to 14 years) who attempted the string test

Characteristics	4–10 years old N = 119 (80%)		11–14 years old N = 29 (20%)		TOTAL N = 148
Characteristics	n	%	n	%	n	%
Female sex	55	46	15	52	70	47
Clinical symptoms (last 4 weeks)
Cough	117	98	28	97	145	98
Productive cough (among those with cough)*	88	74	19	66	107	72
Hemoptysis	5	4	3	10	8	5
Chest pain	33	28	10	34	43	29
Fever	37	31	11	38	48	32
Dyspnea	34	29	8	28	42	28
Loss of appetite	50	42	11	38	61	41
Night sweats	33	28	7	24	40	27
Vomiting	24	20	6	21	30	20
Sore or itchy throat	56	47	10	34	66	45
Pain with swallowing	26	22	6	21	32	22
Hoarseness	35	29	5	17	40	27
Positive tuberculin skin test (TST) (n = 133) **	53	48	14	61	67	45
Exposure to an adult with positive sputum smear test	109	92	26	90	135	91
Provided a spontaneous sputum sample	53†	45	21‡	72	74	50
Provided an induced sputum sample	5	4	3‡	10	9	6
Provided a gastric aspirate sample	68†	57	7	24	75	51
Result of evaluation for TB disease (n = 147) ẟ
Clinically diagnosed TB without culture confirmation	19	16	1	3	20	14
Culture-confirmed TB	4	3	8	28	12	8
Not TB	95	81	20	69	115	78

*Percent with productive cough was calculated among those with cough
**Percentages for TST results were based on available results: N = 110 for 4–10 year olds, N = 23 for 11–14 year olds
†Seven children provided one spontaneous and one gastric aspirate sputum sample
‡Two children provided one spontaneous and one induced sputum sample

ISSN: 1471-2334