Abstract
Introduction Globally around one million children are infected with Tuberculosis. Childhood Tuberculosis is underestimated due diagnosis challenge. HIV infection can affect the TB disease progression and treatment outcome.Objectives The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the pooled estimates of childhood tuberculosis treatment outcome and to analyze the impact of HIV-co infection.Methods We searched all available articles using PubMed, Google scholar and a web of science. Additionally, reference lists of included studies and Ethiopian institutional research repositories were used. Searching was limited to studies conducted in Ethiopia and published in English language. Cohort, cross-sectional and case-control studies were included. A weighted inverse variance random effects- model was used. The overall variations between studies were checked by heterogeneity test Higgins’s method (I 2 ). All included studies were assessed with the JBI quality appraisal criteria. Publication bias was checked with the funnel plot and Egger’s regression test.Result A total of 6 studies with 5,389 participants were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The overall pooled estimate of successful treatment outcome was found to be 79.54% (95% CI: 73.00, 86.07). Of which 72.44% were treatment completed. Moreover, this study revealed that the treatment failure, defaulter and death were 0.15%, 5.36%, and 3.54%, respectively. Poor treatment outcome was higher among children with HIV co infection with an odds ratio of 3.15 (95% CI: 1.67, 5.94) as compared to HIV negative children.Conclusion The rate of successful treatment outcome of childhood tuberculosis in Ethiopia found to be low compared to the threshold suggested by the world health organization. HIV co infection is significantly associated with poor treatment outcome. Therefore, special attention better to be given for children infected with HIV.
Tuberculosis treatment outcome and predictors in northern Ethiopian prisons: a five-year retrospective analysis