Quantiferon-TB Gold In-Tube Improves Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Children

The diagnostic accuracy of Quantiferon-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-IT) is uncertain in the pediatric population, while tuberculin skin test (TST) is still conventionally used despite its limitations. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of QFT-IT with TST in a large cohort of children screened for tuberculosis (TB) infection because of contact tracing, suspected TB, arrival from endemic country or immunosuppressive therapy.

A retrospective analysis was conducted on 517 children 0-14 years of age evaluated at the pediatric unit of the S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna, Italy; 366 of them were also tested with TST. Results were analyzed for Calmette-Guérin bacillus vaccination, country of origin, reason for testing, diagnosis and age.

The overall agreement between the 2 tests was 89.9%, but it was highly affected by Calmette-Guérin bacillus vaccination (P < .0001). According to diagnosis and age, QFT-IT detected latent tuberculous infection cases better than TST in all age groups. Sensitivity for diagnosing active TB in symptomatic children was higher for QFT-IT than TST (93.3% vs. 86.5%), especially in children younger than 2 years, while specificity was high for both tests (99.3% and 98.8%, respectively). Low rate of indeterminate QFT-IT results (3.9%) was not differently distributed among age groups, but was associated with diagnosis of TB exclusion (P < 0.0001), mainly pneumonia (35%), and to Italian children (P = 0.0024).

Despite the concern about the use of QFT-IT in children because of their immature immune system, our results suggest the preferential use of QFT-IT as a support tool for diagnosis and management of TB, even in infants.