Comparison between Quanti-FERON-TB Gold In-Tube test and tuberculin skin test for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis in children: A cross-section study

Objective: To compare Quanti-FERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT- GIT) test and tuberculin skin test (TST) for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection in children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 64 participants who were between 3 months and 14 years old and had close contact with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis were included. Both QFT- GIT test and TST were done and the results were analyzed by SPSS software and Kappa test. Results: The distribution of gender and age according to QFT-GIT and TST results were matched (P>0.05). Overall agreement between QFT-GIT and TST for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection in children was 75%. In addition, the contingency coefficient was 0.257, and the Kappa measure of agreement was 0.246 (P=0.034). Conclusions: Compared to TST, QFT-GIT shows no apparent advantage for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection in children.