An evaluation of chest X-ray in the context of community-based screening of child tuberculosis contacts

BACKGROUND: There are no published data on the critical review of chest X-ray (CXR) findings of children in the context of community-based contact screening.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the quality, findings and inter-observer agreement of CXRs in child TB contacts in Indonesia.

METHODS: We performed antero-posterior (AP) and lateral CXR in children who had had close contact with a pulmonary TB case. The CXRs were interpreted independently by four reviewers.

RESULTS: A total of 530 CXRs of 265 children were reviewed. Most (63%) of the children were asymptomatic at the time of CXR. Only 60% of the CXRs were reported as moderate to good quality by all reviewers, and inter-observer agreement on quality was slight to moderate (weighted κ = 0.16–0.35) for AP view. The majority of the CXRs were reported as normal (range 65–77%), with fair to moderate inter-observer agreement (κ = 0.25–0.46). Hilar lymphadenopathy (6–16%) was the most common CXR abnormality reported with poor inter-observer agreement (κ = −0.03 to 0.25).

CONCLUSION: The CXRs of child TB contacts investigated in the community were characterised by low quality, low agreement and low yield. Our findings support guidelines that CXR is not routinely indicated in asymptomatic child TB contacts in this setting.