Consolidated Guidelines

The majority of children with TB have less severe forms of the disease than adults. Treatment regimens that are shorter than those for adults may be effective in treating children with TB, however solid evidence to substantiate this has been lacking to date. Shorter treatment regimens can result in lower costs to families and health services, potentially less toxicity, lower risks of drug-drug interactions in children living with HIV, and fewer problems with adherence.

Recommendation:

In children and adolescents between 3 months and 16 years of age with non-severe TB (without suspicion or evidence of MDR/RR-TB), a 4-month treatment regimen (2HRZ(E)/2HR) should be used.
(Strong recommendation, moderate certainty of evidence)

Remarks

This chapter contains four new recommendations (published for the first time and described in full detail here) relevant to the treatment of TB disease in children and adolescents as well as other valid WHO recommendations that apply to the treatment of TB in children and adolescents (section 5.4).

The integrated treatment decision algorithms need to be monitored and evaluated for their impact on case notifications and treatment outcomes.

Clinical monitoring of people with TB started on treatment based on clinical criteria is equally important, such as the need to monitor response to treatment (to identify an alternative diagnosis for children who may be misdiagnosed as having TB), adverse events and deterioration in the clinical condition.

Algorithms included in the operational handbook: In the follow-up to the GDG meeting, new integrated treatment decision algorithms for specific populations and settings have been developed and internally validated, using regression modelling with pre-determined cut-off values for sensitivity and specificity against the reference standard (using updated clinical case definitions to define pulmonary TB, outlined in Graham S et al. (31)), based on the individual patient data set used for the evidence review conducted to answer this PICO question.

For HIV-infected children under the age of 10 years, the pooled sensitivity of the algorithms reviewed ranged from 24% (Marais et al. criteria) to 92% (Uganda NTLP algorithm), and the pooled specificity from 15% (Uganda NTLP algorithm) to 87% (Stegen-Toledo score, cut-off 5).

For children with SAM the pooled sensitivity varied between 33% (Marais et al. criteria) and 93% (Uganda NTLP algorithm and Keith Edward score), while the pooled specificity varied between 10% (Keith Edward score) and 88% (Stegen-Toledo score, cut-off 5).

TB diagnosis in children relies on a thorough assessment of all evidence derived from a careful history of exposure, clinical examination and relevant investigations. While various algorithms and scoring systems for TB diagnosis in children exist, these have not been systematically evaluated. There is a need for evidence-based, practical treatment decision algorithm(s), ideally for different settings with varying access to diagnostic tests and CXR.

Interim recommendation

In children with presumptive pulmonary TB attending health care facilities, integrated treatment decision algorithms may be used to diagnose pulmonary TB.
(Conditional recommendation, very low certainty of evidence).

Remarks

Local monitoring of specimen collection by specimen type, diagnostic test, result and clinical diagnosis in a TB Laboratory Register (or equivalent) is recommended. Results should be recorded in a TB Register.

Routine recording and reporting of child and adolescent notifications in five-year age brackets (i.e. 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 years) is recommended by WHO for countries with case-based electronic recording and reporting systems.

Specimen collection and the quality thereof needs to be ensured to optimize accurate diagnosis for all specimen types.