Factors associated with treatment failure in childhood tuberculosis.

We retrospectively reviewed records of 541 children (315 boys) suffering from tuberculosis, median age 95 (range 2-180) months, to determine factors associated with treatment failure. 256 (47.3%) children had pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) while 285 (52.7%) had extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). 459 (84.8%) children were cured and 82 (15.5%) had treatment failure. On bivariate analysis, AFB positivity [OR= 2.13 (95% CI 1.18- 3.85)], non-receipt of BCG vaccination during infancy [OR=1.73 (1.02- 2.91)] and EPTB [1.9 (1.16- 3.11)] were associated with treatment failure. On multivariate analysis, only extrapulmonary tuberculosis was significantly associated with treatment failure.