Table 3.
Signs and symptoms of children with presumptive tuberculosis by gender, recorded by private health care providers in 12 selected districts in Pakistan, 2016
| History and investigations | Total | Female | Male | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n(%) | n(%) | n(%) | |||
| Total | All presumptive cases | 6519 | 2320 | 4199 | |
| Chest | Cough more than two weeks | 6006 (92.1) | 2102 (90.6) | 3904 (93.0) | 0.001 |
| Failure to thrive | 4210 (64.8) | 1644 (70.9) | 2566 (61.1) | < 0.0001 | |
| Systemic | Fever | 5794 (89.0) | 2039 (87.9) | 3755 (89.4) | 0.075 |
| Loss of body weight | 504 (7.7) | 196 (8.4) | 308 (7.3) | 0.110 | |
| Enlarged cervical lymph nodes | 785 (12.1) | 322 (13.8) | 463 (11.0) | 0.001 | |
| BCG scar absent | 1843 (28.2) | 742 (32.0) | 1101 (26.2) | < 0.0001 | |
| Meningitis | Signs of slow onset meningitisa | 658 (10.1) | 228 (9.8) | 430 (10.2) | 0.607 |
| Contacts | Known pulmonary tuberculosis patient | 778 (11.9) | 258 (11.1) | 520 (12.4) | 0.121 |
aSymptoms regarded as slow meningitis include headache, vomiting, irritability, lethargy, neck stiffness, bulging fontanella, coma