Prevalence and related factor s of TB/HIV co-infection among hospitalized children with tuberculosis in Southwest China

Dongmei Wang^1*Qi An¹Qing Yang¹Yi Liao^2*

• ¹Public Health and Clinical Center of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
• ²Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chengdu Women and Children’s Central Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

in southwest China, based on etiology or clinical confirmation. Hospitalization records were extracted for each patient.Results: Among 2,607 pediatric TB patients with an average age of 9.58±4.08 years, 39(1.5%) were HIV-positive. The TB/HIV co-infection group male-to-female ratio was 2:1, higher than the TB-only group 1.19:1. The highest proportion of TB/HIV co-infection was in the 5-9 years age group (43.6%), while the 10-14 years age group accounted for the highest proportion of TB-alone cases (57.5%). In terms of population distribution, the Yi ethnic group had the highest proportion of TB/HIV co-infection cases (43.6%), while the Tibetan group had the highest proportion of TB-alone cases (51.1%). Extrapulmonary TB in the TB/HIV co-infection group primarily involved abdominal and pericardial sites, whereas the TB-alone infection group had more cases of lymphadenitis and pleural TB. The length of hospitalization (>14 days) in the TB/HIV co-infection group (74.4%) was significantly longer than in the TB-alone infection group (51.7%). Over the past 11 years, most pediatric TB/HIV co-infection cases were from the eastern-central and southern-central regions of Sichuan, particularly the southern Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. The number of children with TB-alone infections increased gradually during this period. No significant difference in the number of pediatric TB/HIV co-infection cases was observed over the 11 years.Pediatric TB/HIV co-infection in southwest China predominantly affects middle-aged and young boys, with a higher co-infection rate than the national average. The central and southern regions of Sichuan have a relatively high proportion of cases. Public health efforts should focus on strengthening awareness, screening, and early diagnosis of TB and HIV in children in high-risk areas to prevent further infections.