New Delhi: A new study shows that young children, aged 5 years or younger, diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are at an increased risk of subsequent wheezing, poor lung function, and reduced height and weight later in their childhood. The scientists from Boston University School of Public Health, US, involved in the study said while there are treatments for children who develop PTB, no studies have examined the long-term impact of this disease on children's health post-recovery. They have published their study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
For the study, study lead and corresponding author Leonardo Martinez and colleagues from the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Western Australia followed a cohort of 1,068 children from birth up to nine years old in two communities outside of Cape Town, from March 2012 to March 2015. The researchers found that children in the study who developed TB before one year of age had a lower weight and BMI for their age by the time they turned five years old, and those who developed PTB between one and four years of age had a lower length for their age.
The researchers also found that children who developed PTB were at a greater risk of post-TB wheezing, regardless of when they developed the infection. Children who developed PTB before they were six months old were found to have more than double the risk of wheezing after 6 months, compared to children who did not develop PTB. The risk of subsequent wheezing also increased when children developed PTB before they were 12 months, 24 months, or 36 months old.