| Since 2002, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has recommended a score system for tuberculosis diagnosis of children and adolescents that does not need bacteriological positivity, because most cases in this age group have few bacteria. An observational, transversal study was carried out at the outpatient health care service of the reference medical service in Salvador, Bahia, including 164 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, with ages ranging between 1 and 15 years of age, who were treated from 1990 to 2001. The gold standard used to establish the diagnosis was clinical, radiological, epidemiological and based on follow-up data. The score system for diagnosis purposes was tested retrospectively. The median age and the average age of the 164 patients were 6... |
