Study reveals Haematological factors key in diagnosing tuberculosis in children
With very few signs of the disease in children, the advanced symptoms of TB are also not clear in children.
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CHENNAI: While the incidence of Tuberculosis has been reported in children, diagnosing it at the earliest stage is a challenge. However, a recent study published in the Tamil Nadu Journal of Public Health and Medical Research has stated that haematological factors or blood parameters such as haemoglobin, platelet count and white blood cell count can help in the diagnosis of TB in children.
With very few signs of the disease in children, the advanced symptoms of TB are also not clear in children. The doctors also face operational constraints of obtaining specimens from children who are unable to generate sputum.
The study conducted with the assistance of ICMR- National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, states that haematological indicators have been used to as diagnostic and prognostic markers in management of tuberculosis. The biomarkers from blood counts has been found to predict progression to TB in both children and adults.
The researchers analysed the haematological parameters of children with TB disease and investigated the association between anaemia, monocyte to lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and clinical status.
As part of the study, HIV-negative children aged 15 and under who had either confirmed or clinically diagnosed TB, were evaluated between 2014-2019 from two hospitals in Chennai. Of the 593 children from 2,078 screened, 33.7 percent of them were diagnosed with TB and 38 percent were bacteriologically confirmed and 62 percent were diagnosed clinically.
The study points out that about 49 percent of the children diagnosed were suffering from Anaemia, while it was about 24 percent in children who did not have TB. These children also had elevated levels of other blood biomarkers.
The corresponding author of the study Aishwarya Venkataraman comments that findings demonstrate significant haematological abnormalities in children with TB, implying that these indices might be useful as additional tools in determining if a child has TB disease. This work further adds to the growing body of research on the ML and NL ratios as adjunct biomarkers for tuberculosis diagnosis in children, which is critical given the difficulty of obtaining respiratory samples for microbiologic diagnosis in children with Tuberculosis.