Abstract:

Objective To investigate the case-finding delay of tuberculosis in children aged <15 years in Zhejiang Province, and to provide reference for scientific policy-making of childhood tuberculosis control and prevention.Methods The specific TB case information of the children aged <15 years old was collected from “China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention Tuberculous Management Information System” during the period of 2009-2018. There were a total of 1730 childhood cases included in this study. Descriptive analysis was performed to present the epidemic characteristics of case-finding delay by Excel 2019 software, and SPSS software 18.0. One-way analysis of variance (χ ²) and logistic regression analysis were used to identify the potential influential factors causing the case-finding delay. Results Among the 1730 children cases under 15 years old reported in the 11 cities of Zhejiang Province, the median delay interval of case finding was 24(12,50)d with delay proportion of 44.10%(763/1730). The median interval of patient delay time was 18(7,40)d with delay proportion of 55.78%(965/1730).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the region of first diagnosis, occupation, age group, diagnosis results and diagnosis type play a vital role in the occurrence of finding delay (Wald χ ² value was 28.586,7.718, 6.996, 24.064 and 17.143, P value was 0.001, 0.052, 0.072, <0.001 and 0.002).Conclusion The finding delay of tuberculosis among children aged <15 years was more serious than that of other groups in Zhejiang Province. Region of first diagnosis, occupation, age group, diagnosis results and diagnosis type were associated with finding delay. More attention should be play by all levels of TB control facilities.

Key words: Child, Tuberculosis, Delayed diagnosis, Factor analysis, statistics