Tuberculosis Mortality in Children under Fifteen Years of Age: Epidemiological Situation in Colombia, 2010–2018

Abstract

Pediatric tuberculosis is a serious infectious disease and a hidden global epidemic. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis mortality in children under 15 years of age in Colombia in the period 2010–2018. A longitudinal descriptive study was conducted. The variables sex, age groups, and origin were studied. This study had 260 cases for analysis and was carried out in three phases. The first phase was the determination of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The second phase was the construction of indicators by territorial entities. The third phase was stratification into four epidemiological situations according to the mortality rate and years of life lost. The median age was 7 years (range 0–1 4), 66.5% of cases were pulmonary tuberculosis (97,7% without bacteriological confirmation), 14.3781 years of life lost were recorded (95% CI: 142.811–168.333), and in children under 10–14 years, the loss was 110,057. Amazonas had the highest adjusted YLL rate (3979.7). In total, 36,4% of the territories had a high mortality, and 30,3% adjusted to the situation designated as 1. This is the first study that has used composite indicators to address the problem of premature mortality from childhood tuberculosis in Colombia. Our results allow us to specify that this disease remains a challenge for public health. It requires models of care and differential strategies by region. It also requires ensuring opportunities in diagnosis with sensitive methods, as well as intersectoral work for the optimal approach.

Trends in tuberculosis mortality among children and adolescents in Brazil, 1996-2020: a joinpoint analysis

“…Although there are numerous reports of national and global tuberculosis mortality in the general population, 3 - 5 there are limited data on tuberculosis mortality in the pediatric population. 6 We therefore conducted a joinpoint analysis to identify time trends of tuberculosis mortality among children and adolescents in Brazil in the 1996-2020 period.…”

“…Embora haja muitos relatos de mortalidade nacional e global por tuberculose na população geral, (3)(4)(5) há dados limitados a respeito da mortalidade por tuberculose na população pediátrica. (6) Portanto, realizamos uma análise de pontos de inflexão para identificar as tendências temporais da mortalidade por tuberculose em crianças e adolescentes no Brasil no período de 1996-2020.…”

The burden of tuberculosis disease in women, Colombia 2010-2018

“…The use of composite indicators such as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) to measure burden disease BD with the up-dated methodology of the World Health Organization WHO is recent in the country. It has been used for the global burden in the Colombian Orinoquía 6 and for the regionalized national order for TB 7,8 , however, although these include the variable sex, the specific behavior in women is not analyzed.…”