Utilidad de los ensayos de liberación de interferón gamma para la detección de tuberculosis en población pediátrica

The interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) is a novel method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), but its usefulness is uncertain in children. Objective: Examine the diagnostic capacity of QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G®) one of the IGRA commercial kits, in pediatric population of Sonora, Mexico. Methods: Cross-sectional design with 160 subjects less than 19 years old, in a hospital in Sonora, Mexico. Three groups were compared: one from patients with active TB (TBA), another one with latent TB (TBL) and one of hospital controls. The Stegen-Toledo criteria were the gold standard used. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to test the association between QFT-G® and selected predictors. Results: The sensitivity of QFT-G® in TBA was 76.9% and specificity 90.3%. For TBL, sensitivity was 25.0% and specificity of 98.6%. QFT-G® showed a moderate agreement (K = 0.574) with the standard. QFT-G® was associated with a chest radiograph suggestive of TB, (OR adjusted 4.37, 95% CI: 1.42, 13.42) and being a case of pulmonary TB (OR adjusted 6.15, 95% CI: 1.90, 19.92). Conclusion: The interferon-gamma release assay shows significant capacity to diagnose TBA and can be used to rule out TBL in the pediatric population.