Chest radiography in ambulatory children with acute lower respiratory infections: effective tuberculosis case-finding?

A study was performed to determine the proportion of ambulatory children with acute lower respiratory infections in whom clinical management was changed by findings on routine chest radiography that suggested tuberculosis. The children studied were aged between 2 and 59 months and met the World Health Organization's case definition for pneumonia. They lived in an area with a very high prevalence of tuberculosis. Exclusion criteria included a cough of more than 14 days' duration and a history of a current household contact with active tuberculosis. Twelve (4.4%) of 273 children had radiological findings suggesting tuberculosis, nine of which were suspected mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Eight children were further investigated for tuberculosis: seven of them did not require treatment for tuberculosis and one was lost to follow-up. It is concluded that chest radiography in ambulatory children with acute lower respiratory infections of less than 14 days' duration and not in contact with active tuberculosis does not result in a meaningful increase in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.