Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among children under fifteen years of age: A population-based study in Indonesia

Objective: To assess the prevalence of Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis infection and its associated risks in children under fifteen years of age. Methods: Based on secondary data from the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Survey (RISKESDAS 2018), this cross-sectional study employed M. tuberculosis infection in children as a dependent variable and age level, sex, region, location, family case positive, and smoking as independent variables. Geospatial analysis was applied to show the prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection and multivariate regression was performed to analyze the risk factors of getting the infection among children under 15 years of age. Results: Prevalence ranges of M. tuberculosis infection among children aged 0-14 years, babies (age <12 months), toddlers (age 12-59 months), and children aged between 5 and 14 years were 0.03% to 0.57%, 0% to 0.64%, 0% to 0.78%, and 0.01% to 0.53%, respectively in Indonesia. A high prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection among children under 15 years of age was found in Papua and other provinces, such as Kalimantan and Java. Contacting with tuberculosis family members was positively associated with M. tuberculosis infection in children as shown by multivariate logistic regression (OR 8.94; 95% CI 5.4-14.6, P<0.05). Conclusions: Contacting with family member who has tuberculosis is related with M. tuberculosis infection among children in Indonesia. Therefore, screening the household for contact with tuberculosis patients is a preventive treatment for children.